The report provides highlights related to impacts of TropicalStorm Frances in the Florida area. Sections on electric information, oil and gas information, storm track, and county outage data are provided.

While there is wisdom in the old adage "the two constants in life are death and taxes,'' there are unavoidable truths facing modern experimental and computational science. First is the growing "impedance mismatch'' between our ability to collect and generate data, and our ability to store, manage, and gain understanding from it. The second is the fact that we cannot continue to rely on the same software technologies that have worked well for the past couple of decades for data management, analysis, and visualization. A third is that these complementary activities must be considered in a holistic, rather than Balkanized way. The inseparable interplay between data management, analysis, visualization, and high performance computational infrastructure, are best viewed through the lens of case studies from multiple scientific domains, where teams of computer and scientists combine forces to tackle challenging data understanding problems.

The connections among greenhouse-gas emissions scenarios, global warming, and frequencies of hurricanes or tropical cyclones are among the least understood in climate science but among the most fiercely debated in the context of adaptation decisions or mitigation policies. Here we show that a knowledge discovery strategy, which leverages observations and climate model simulations, offers the promise of developing credible projections of tropical cyclones based on sea surface temperatures (SST) in a warming environment. While this study motivates the development of new methodologies in statistics and data mining, the ability to solve challenging climate science problems with innovative combinations of traditional and state-of-the-art methods is demonstrated. Here we develop new insights, albeit in a proof-of-concept sense, on the relationship between sea surface temperatures and hurricane frequencies, and generate the most likely projections with uncertainty bounds for storm counts in the 21st-century warming environment based in turn on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. Our preliminary insights point to the benefits that can be achieved for climate science and impacts analysis, as well as adaptation and mitigation policies, by a solution strategy that remains tailored to the climate domain and complements physics-based climate model simulations with a combination of existing and new computational and data science approaches.

0 Winter Storms Winter has set its sights upon us, just in time to make the holidays bright. Remembering the joy winter brought us when we were children might help us cope with the hazards and inconvenience of the season, but we can't avoid the coping. The basic mechanisms that support summer storms also occur in winter storms. These mechanisms include low-pressure centers, warm fronts, and cold fronts. As winter approaches, the northern branch of the jet stream dips to the south, bringing cold

Improving a tropical cyclone's forecast and mitigating its destructive potential requires knowledge of various environmental factors that influence the cyclone's path and intensity. Herein, using a combination of observations and model simulations, we systematically demonstrate that tropical cyclone intensification is significantly affected by salinity-induced barrier layers, which are 'quasi-permanent' features in the upper tropical oceans. When tropical cyclones pass over regions with barrier layers, the increased stratification and stability within the layer reduce storm-induced vertical mixing and sea surface temperature cooling. This causes an increase in enthalpy flux from the ocean to the atmosphere and, consequently, an intensification of tropical cyclones. On average, the tropical cyclone intensification rate is nearly 50% higher over regions with barrier layers, compared to regions without. Our finding, which underscores the importance of observing not only the upper-ocean thermal structure but also the salinity structure in deep tropical barrier layer regions, may be a key to more skillful predictions of tropical cyclone intensities through improved ocean state estimates and simulations of barrier layer processes. As the hydrological cycle responds to global warming, any associated changes in the barrier layer distribution must be considered in projecting future tropical cyclone activity.

Warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in North Atlantic and Mediterranean (NAMED) can influence tropical cyclone (TC) activity in the tropical East Atlantic by modulating summer convection over western Africa. Analysis of 30 years of observations show that the NAMED SST is linked to a strengthening of the Saharan heat low and enhancement of moisture and moist static energy in the lower atmosphere over West Africa, which favors a northward displacement of the monsoonal front. These processes also lead to a northward shift of the African easterly jet that introduces an anomalous positive vorticity from western Africa to the main development region (50W20E; 10N20N) of Atlantic TC. By modulating multiple processes associated with the African monsoon, this study demonstrates that warm NAMED SST explains 8% of interannual variability of Atlantic TC frequency. Thus NAME SST may provide useful predictability for Atlantic TC activity on seasonal-to-interannual time scale.

Applied research is proposed with the following objectives: (i) to determine the most likely level of tropical cyclone intensity and frequency in future climate regimes, (ii) to provide a quantitative measure of uncertainty in these predictions, and (iii) to improve understanding of the linkage between tropical cyclones and the planetary-scale circulation. Current mesoscale weather forecasting models, such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are capable of simulating the full intensity of tropical cyclones (TC) with realistic structures. However, in order to accurately represent both the primary and secondary circulations in these systems, model simulations must be configured with sufficient resolution to explicitly represent convection (omitting the convective parameterization scheme). Most previous numerical studies of TC activity at seasonal and longer time scales have not utilized such explicit convection (EC) model runs. Here, we propose to employ the moving nest capability of WRF to optimally represent TC activity on a seasonal scale using a downscaling approach. The statistical results of a suite of these high-resolution TC simulations will yield a realistic representation of TC intensity on a seasonal basis, while at the same time allowing analysis of the feedback that TCs exert on the larger-scale climate system. Experiments will be driven with analyzed lateral boundary conditions for several recent Atlantic seasons, spanning a range of activity levels and TC track patterns. Results of the ensemble of WRF simulations will then be compared to analyzed TC data in order to determine the extent to which this modeling setup can reproduce recent levels of TC activity. Next, the boundary conditions (sea-surface temperature, tropopause height, and thermal/moisture profiles) from the recent seasons will be altered in a manner consistent with various future GCM/RCM scenarios, but that preserves the large-scale shear and incipient disturbance

We report that past studies of radiation belt relativistic electrons have favored activestorm time periods, while the effects of small geomagnetic storms (Dst >ā50 nT) have not been statistically characterized. In this timely study, given the current weak solar cycle, we identify 342 small storms from 1989 through 2000 and quantify the corresponding change in relativistic electron flux at geosynchronous orbit. Surprisingly, small storms can be equally as effective as large storms at enhancing and depleting fluxes. Slight differences exist, as small storms are 10% less likely to result in flux enhancement and 10% more likely to result in flux depletion than large storms. Nevertheless, it is clear that neither acceleration nor loss mechanisms scale with storm drivers as would be expected. Small geomagnetic storms play a significant role in radiation belt relativistic electron dynamics and provide opportunities to gain new insights into the complex balance of acceleration and loss processes.

We report that past studies of radiation belt relativistic electrons have favored activestorm time periods, while the effects of small geomagnetic storms (Dst >ā50 nT) have not been statistically characterized. In this timely study, given the current weak solar cycle, we identify 342 small storms from 1989 through 2000 and quantify the corresponding change in relativistic electron flux at geosynchronous orbit. Surprisingly, small storms can be equally as effective as large storms at enhancing and depleting fluxes. Slight differences exist, as small storms are 10% less likely to result in flux enhancement and 10% more likely to result inmoreĀ Ā» flux depletion than large storms. Nevertheless, it is clear that neither acceleration nor loss mechanisms scale with storm drivers as would be expected. Small geomagnetic storms play a significant role in radiation belt relativistic electron dynamics and provide opportunities to gain new insights into the complex balance of acceleration and loss processes.Ā«Ā less

We present a set of high-resolution global atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) simulations focusing on the model's ability to represent tropicalstorms and their statistics. We find that the model produces storms of hurricane strength with realistic dynamical features. We also find that tropicalstorm statistics are reasonable, both globally and in the north Atlantic, when compared to recent observations. The sensitivity of simulated tropicalstorm statistics to increases in sea surface temperature (SST) is also investigated, revealing that a credible late 21st century SST increase produced increases in simulated tropicalstorm numbers and intensities in all ocean basins. WhilemoreĀ Ā» this paper supports previous high-resolution model and theoretical findings that the frequency of very intense storms will increase in a warmer climate, it differs notably from previous medium and high-resolution model studies that show a global reduction in total tropicalstorm frequency. However, we are quick to point out that this particular model finding remains speculative due to a lack of radiative forcing changes in our time-slice experiments as well as a focus on the Northern hemisphere tropicalstorm seasons.Ā«Ā less

"A new Idaho National Laboratory supercomputer is helping scientists create more realistic simulations of nuclear fuel. Dubbed 'Ice Storm,' this 2048-processor machine allows researchers to model and predict the complex physics behind nuclear reactor behavior. And with a new visualization lab, the team can see the results of its simulations on the big screen." For more information about INL research, visit http://www.facebook.com/idahonationallaboratory.

Low emissivity (low-e) storm windows/panels appear to hold promise for effectively reducing existing home heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) consumption. Due to the affordability of low-e storm windows and the large numbers of existing homes that have low-performing single-pane or double-pane clear windows, a tremendous opportunity exists to provide energy savings by transforming the low-e storm window market and increasing market adoption. This report outlines U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Americaās planned market transformation activities in support of low-e storm window adoption during fiscal year (FY) 2014.

This article discusses the problem of identifying extreme climate events such as intense storms within large climate data sets. The basic storm detection algorithm is reviewed, which splits the problem into two parts: a spatial search followed by a temporal correlation problem. Two specific implementations of the spatial search algorithm are compared. The commonly used grid point search algorithm is reviewed, and a new algorithm called Stride Search is introduced. Stride Search is designed to work at all latitudes, while grid point searches may fail in polar regions. Results from the two algorithms are compared for the application of tropical cyclone detection, and shown to produce similar results for the same set of storm identification criteria. The time required for both algorithms to search the same data set is compared. Furthermore, Stride Search's ability to search extreme latitudes is demonstrated for the case of polar low detection.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final storm water regulation on November 16, 1990. The storm water regulation is included in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations. An NPDES permit was issued for the Y-12 Plant on April 28, 1995, and was effective on July 1, 1995. The permit requires that a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3) be developed by December 28, 1995, and be fully implemented by July 1, 1996; this plan has been developed to fulfill that requirement. The outfalls and monitoring points described in this plan contain storm water discharges associated with industrial activities as defined in the NPDES regulations. For storm water discharges associated with industrial activity, including storm water discharges associated with construction activity, that are not specifically monitored or limited in this permit, Y-12 Plant personnel will meet conditions of the General Storm Water Rule 1200-4-10. This document presents the programs and physical controls that are in place to achieve the following objectives: ensure compliance with Section 1200-4-10-.04(5) of the TDEC Water Quality Control Regulations and Part 4 of the Y-12 Plant NPDES Permit (TN0002968); provide operating personnel with guidance relevant to storm water pollution prevention and control requirements for their facility and/or project; and prevent or reduce pollutant discharge to the environment, in accordance with the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Tennessee Water Quality Control Act.

a Storm Water Permit? Poster, Individual Permit for Storm Water, NPDES Permit No. NM0030759 Author(s): Veenis, Steven J. Intended for: Public Purpose: This poster was prepared for the May 2011 Individual Permit for Storm Water (IP) public meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to update the public on implementation of the permit as required under Part 1.I (7) of the IP (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit No. NM0030759). The poster will be available on Los Alamos National

Severe wind and snow storms hit the Pacific Northwest region on December 14 ā 15, 2006, following severe flooding during the past few days. The severe weather resulted in major power outages through the region. At peak there were 1.8 million customers without power which included BC Hydro in Canada. Currently, there are over 1.5 million outages in the region as a result of the Pacific Northwest Storms. This represents about 42 percent of customers in affected utility service areas in Oregon and Washington. See table below. Because the current wind and snow storms are coming on the heels of extensive flooding in the region, electric utilities are experiencing damage. Wind gusts reached close to 100 mph in some areas of the region. The storm is expected to bring its strong winds and heavy snow into Idaho, Montana and Wyoming Friday and into the weekend. There are currently no reported major impacts to the petroleum and natural gas infrastructure.

'Perfect Storm' Sank Solyndra 'Perfect Storm' Sank Solyndra September 14, 2011 - 6:14am Addthis Daniel B. Poneman Daniel B. Poneman Former Deputy Secretary of Energy Editorial Note: This article also appears in USA Today. The International Energy Agency projects that solar power will grow steadily, producing nearly a quarter of the world's electricity within four decades. Conservatively, that means more than $3 trillion worth of solar panels will need to be manufactured - a vast economic and

The negative effects of chemical contaminants on tropical marine ecosystems are of increasing concern as human populations expand adjacent to these communities. Watershed streams and ground water carry a variety of chemicals from agricultural, industrial, and domestic activities, while winds and currents transport pollutants from atmospheric and oceanic sources to these coastal ecosystems. The implications of the limited information available on impacts of chemical stressors on mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs are discussed in the context of ecosystem management and ecological risk assessment. Three classes of pollutants have received attention: heavy metals, petroleum, and synthetic organics. Heavy metals have been detected in all three ecosystems, causing physiological stress, reduced reproductive success, and outright mortality in associated invertebrates and fishes. Oil spills have been responsible for the destruction of entire coastal shallow-water communities, with recovery requiring years. Herbicides are particularly detrimental to mangroves and seagrasses and adversely affect the animal-algal symbioses in corals. Pesticides interfere with chemical cues responsible for key biological processes, including reproduction and recruitment of a variety of organisms. Information is lacking with regard to long-term recovery, indicator species, and biomarkers for tropical communities. Critical areas that are beginning to be addressed include the development of appropriate benchmarks for risk assessment, baseline monitoring criteria, and effective management strategies to protect tropical marine ecosystems in the face of mounting anthropogenic disturbance.

Storm water modeling is important to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for compliance with regulations that govern water discharge at large industrial facilities. Modeling is also done to study trend in contaminants and storm sewer infrastructure. The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) was used to simulate rainfall events at LLNL. SWMM is a comprehensive computer model for simulation of urban runoff quantity and quality in storm and combined sewer systems. Due to time constraints and ongoing research, no modeling was completed at LLNL. With proper information about the storm sewers, a SWMM simulation of a rainfall event on site would be beneficial to storm sewer analyst.

Despite a small storm that came through the area last night with wind gusts peaking at 45 MPH, progress continues to be made in restoring power to customers who lost power during the December 14-15 storms which hit the Pacific Northwest region. Currently, 95,971 customers remain without power, down from 1.8 million customers. The wind storm which affected the area yesterday was not as bad as previously expected, with the majority of the customer outages in the BC Hydro region, and 3,000 additional customer outages in the Puget Sound Energy service area. The customers without power represent 5 percent of customers in the affected utility service areas of Washington. The majority of customers without power are served by Puget Sound Energy, BC Hydro, and Seattle City Light.

The Environmental Protection Agency staff published the final storm water regulation on November 16, 1990. The storm water regulation is included in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations. It specifies the permit application requirements for certain storm water discharges such as industrial activity or municipal separate storm sewers serving populations of 100,000 or greater. Storm water discharge associated with industrial activity is discharge from any conveyance used for collecting and conveying storm water that is directly related to manufacturing, processing, or raw material storage areas at an industrial plant. Quantitative testing data is required for these discharges. An individual storm water permit application was completed and submitted to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) personnel in October 1992. After reviewing this data in the permit application, TDEC personnel expressed concern with the fecal coliform levels at many of the outfalls. The 1995 NPDES Permit (Part 111-N, page 44) requires that an investigation be conducted to determine the validity of this data. If the fecal coliform data is valid, the permit requires that a report be submitted indicating possible causes and proposed corrective actions.

HOPE for radiation belt storm probes Los Alamos provides HOPE for radiation belt storm probes The HOPE analyzer is one of a suite of instruments that was successfully launched as part of the Radiation Belt Storm Probe mission. August 30, 2012 Artist's rendering showing two spacecraft representing the not-yet-designed Radiation Belt Storm Probes that will study the sun and its effects on Earth. PHOTO CREDIT: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Artist's rendering showing two

Although workstation clusters are a common platform for high-performance computing (HPC), they remain more difficult to manage than sequential systems or even symmetric multiprocessors. Furthermore, as cluster sizes increase, the quality of the resource-management subsystem - essentially, all of the code that runs on a cluster other than the applications - increasingly impacts application efficiency. In this paper, we present STORM, a resource-management framework designed for scalability and performance. The key innovation behind STORMis a software architecture that enables resource management to exploit low-level network features. As a result of this HPC-application-like design, STORM is orders of magnitude faster than the best reported results in the literature on two sample resource-management functions: job launching and process scheduling.

Significant progress has been made in restoring power to customers in the Pacific Northwest region. Currently, 237,030 customers remain without power. This is down from 1.8 million customers who lost power following severe wind and snow storms on December 14-15, 2006. The customers without power represent about 8 percent of customers in the affected utility service areas of Oregon and Washington.

Significant progress has been made in restoring power to customers in the Pacific Northwest region. Currently, 186,627 customers remain without power. The majority of customers without power are served by Puget Sound Energy. This is down from 1.8 million customers who lost power following severe wind and snow storms on December 14-15, 2006. The customers without power represent about 6 percent of customers in the affected utility service areas of Oregon and Washington. See table below.

Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment (STORMVEX) Operated by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility for the U.S. Department of Energy, the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) begins its inaugural deployment November 2010 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, for the Storm Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment, or STORMVEX. For six months, the comprehensive suite of AMF2 instruments will obtain measurements of cloud and aerosol properties at various sites

The report provides highlights related to impacts of Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan in the Florida area. Sections on electric information, oil and gas information, and county outage data are provided.

The report provides highlights related to impacts of Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan in the Florida area. Sections on electric information, oil and gas information, county outage data, and a table for restoration targets/status are provided.

Significant progress has been made in restoring power to customers in the Pacific Northwest region. Currently, 134,868 customers remain without power. The number of outages is down from 1.8 million customers who lost power following severe wind and snow storms on December 14-15, 2006. The customers without power represent less than 5 percent of customers in the affected utility service areas of Oregon and Washington. The majority of customers without power are served by Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light.

Significant progress has been made in restoring power to customers in the Pacific Northwest region. Currently, 468,200 customers, including Canada, remain without power. This is down from 1.8 million customers who lost power following severe wind and snow storms on December 14-15, 2006. The customers without power represent about 16 percent of customers in the affected utility service areas of Oregon and Washington. See table below. The Olympic pipeline reports that the pipeline is operational; however, pipeline throughput remains reduced since one substation along the line remains without power. Complete power restoration is expected later today. There are no reports of problems regarding fuel distribution and production.

A major experiment to study tropical convective cloud systems and their impacts will take place around Darwin, Northern Australia in early 2006. The Tropical Warm Pool International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) is a collaboration including the DOE ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) and ARM-UAV programs, NASA centers, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, and universities in the USA, Australia, Japan, the UK, and Canada. TWP-ICE will be preceded in November/December 2004 by a collaborating European aircraft campaign involving the EU SCOUT-O3 and UK NERC ACTIVE projects. Detailed atmospheric measurements will be made in the Darwin area through the whole Austral summer, giving unprecedented coverage through the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods.

On September 9, 1992, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued General Permit No. WA-R-00-OOOF, Authorization to Discharge Under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Industrial Activity to the US Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (RL). RL submitted a Notice of Intent to comply with this permit to EPA in conformance with the General Permit requirements on October 1, 1992. On February 14, 1994, EPA issued a Storm Water General Permit Coverage Notice and assigned WA-R-00-Al7F as the Hanford Site`s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) storm water permit number. The Hanford Site Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) (WHC 1996a) was certified by J. E Rasmussen, Director Environmental Assurance, RL, on September 24, 1996, in compliance with Part IV.B(i) of the General Permit. As required by General Permit No. WA-R-00-OOOF (WA-R-00-Al7F), Section IV, Part D, Section 4.c, an annual report must be developed by RL and retained on site to verify that the requirements listed in the General Permit are being implemented. The previous Hanford Site Storm Plater Comprehensive Site Compliance Evaluation Report (WHC 1996b) addressed the period from July 1995 through June 1996. This document fulfills the requirement to prepare an annual report and contains the results of inspections of the storm water outfalls listed in the SWPPP (WHC 1996a). This report also describes the methods used to conduct the 1100 Storm Plater Comprehensive Site Compliance Evaluation (SWCSCE) as required in Part IV, Section D.4.c in the General Permit; summarizes the results of the compliance evaluation; and documents significant leaks and spills. The reporting year for this SWCSCE report is July 1, 1996 through June 30, 1997.

Design of offshore structures requires knowledge of the appropriate current profile to be used in conjunction with the design wave. Accurate determination of the current profile will depend on reliable current models. Vertical transfer of momentum in storm-driven current models is commonly treated either by using eddy viscosity or by assuming 'slab-like' mixed layer flow. These two fundamentally different approaches predict different current speeds and profiles during severe storms. The existing data base is inadequate to determine which approach is better, but most existing data sets are subject to one or more of four limitations that can lead one improperly to interpret the data as supporting the existence of current velocity shear in otherwise uniform mixed layers. One-dimensional slab models are found to compare favorably with observed wind-driven currents at the Ocean Test Structure in the Gulf of Mexico (deployed in 20 m deep water). By using some reasonably simple assumptions, these slab models are able to replicate many of the significantly features of the wide range of different responses. The character of the response appears to depend on an interaction of stratification and topography. Barotropic responses are characteristic of typical coastal responses; current oriented longshore and are in phase with the wind. Baroclinic responses are dominantly inertial as might be expected in the deep sea, but with an additional near-bottom cross-shore counter flow. The structure of one observed barotropic response is compared to detail to predictions of both slab and eddy viscosity models and found consistent with a slab model and inconsistent with eddy viscosity models. Shear observed during this event was not significantly different from zero, but was significantly below estimated shear predictions of four eddy viscosity models given the peak 0.4 N/m/sup 2/ wind stress.

Between September 10 and 17, 2013, New Mexico and Colorado received a historically large amount of precipitation (Figure 1). This report assesses the damage caused by flooding along with estimated costs to repair the damage at Los Alamos National Laboratory (the Laboratory) on the Pajarito Plateau. Los Alamos County, New Mexico, received between 200% and 600% of the normal precipitation for this time period (Figure 2), and the Laboratory received approximately 450% percent of its average precipitation for September (Figure 3). As a result, the Laboratory was inundated with rain, including the extremely large, greater-than-1000-yr return period event that occurred between September 12 and 13 (Table 1). With saturated antecedent soil conditions from the September 10 storm, when the September 12 to September 13 storm hit, the flooding was disastrous to the Laboratoryās environmental infrastructure, including access roads, gage stations, watershed controls, control measures installed under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (hereafter, the Individual Permit), and groundwater monitoring wells (Figures 4 through 21). From September 16 to October 1, 2013, the Laboratory completed field assessments of environmental infrastructure and generated descriptions and estimates of the damage, which are presented in spreadsheets in Attachments 1 to 4 of this report. Section 2 of this report contains damage assessments by watershed, including access roads, gage stations, watershed controls, and control measures installed under the Individual Permit. Section 3 contains damage assessments of monitoring wells by the groundwater monitoring groups as established in the Interim Facility-Wide Groundwater Monitoring Plan for Monitoring Year 2014. Section 4 addresses damage and loss of automated samplers. Section 5 addresses sediment sampling needs, and Section 6 is the summary of estimated recovery costs from the significant rain and flooding during September 2013.

Caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) is the natural lentivirus of goats, well known for its tropism for macrophages and its inability to cause infection in lymphocytes. The viral genome lacks nef, tat, vpu and vpx coding sequences. To test the hypothesis that when nef is expressed by the viral genome, the virus became toxic for lymphocytes during replication in macrophages, we inserted the SIVsmm PBj14 nef coding sequences into the genome of CAEV thereby generating CAEV-nef. This recombinant virus is not infectious for lymphocytes but is fully replication competent in goat macrophages in which it constitutively expresses the SIV Nef. We found that goat lymphocytes cocultured with CAEV-nef-infected macrophages became activated, showing increased expression of the interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R). Activation correlated with increased proliferation of the cells. Interestingly, a dual effect in terms of apoptosis regulation was observed in exposed goat lymphocytes. Nef was found first to induce a protection of lymphocytes from apoptosis during the first few days following exposure to infected macrophages, but later it induced increased apoptosis in the activated lymphocytes. This new recombinant virus provides a model to study the functions of Nef in the context of infection of macrophages, but in absence of infection of T lymphocytes and brings new insights into the biological effects of Nef on lymphocytes.

Heating associated with tropical cloud systems drive the global circulation. The overall research objectives of this project were to i) further quantify and understand the importance of heating in tropical convective cloud systems with innovative observational techniques, and ii) use global models to determine the large-scale circulation response to variability in tropical heating profiles, including anvil and cirrus cloud radiative forcing. The innovative observational techniques used a diversity of radar systems to create a climatology of vertical velocities associated with the full tropical convective cloud spectrum along with a dissection of the of the total heating profile of tropical cloud systems into separate components (i.e., the latent, radiative, and eddy sensible heating). These properties were used to validate storm-scale and global climate models (GCMs) and were further used to force two different types of GCMs (one with and one without interactive physics). While radiative heating was shown to account for about 20% of the total heating and did not have a strong direct response on the global circulation, the indirect response was important via its impact on convection, esp. in how radiative heating impacts the tilt of heating associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), a phenomenon that accounts for most tropical intraseasonal variability. This work shows strong promise in determining the sensitivity of climate models and climate processes to heating variations associated with cloud systems.

Sea-Level Rise | Department of Energy Climate Change and Energy Infrastructure Exposure to Storm Surge and Sea-Level Rise Climate Change and Energy Infrastructure Exposure to Storm Surge and Sea-Level Rise This study provides an initial assessment of the effects of the interaction of sea-level rise (SLR) and storm surge on the exposure of energy infrastructure to coastal flooding. As recent hurricane events have demonstrated, this study found that an extensive amount of U.S. energy

the LANL Storm Water Individual Permit? Poster, Individual Permit for Storm Water, NPDES Permit No. NM0030759 Author(s): Veenis, Steven J. Intended for: Public Purpose: This poster was prepared for the May 2011 Individual Permit for Storm Water (IP) public meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to update the public on implementation of the permit as required under Part 1.I (7) of the IP (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit No. NM0030759). The poster will be available on Los

The motions of the thermosphere and its interactions with the ionosphere during a geomagnetic storm are of current interest to space scientists. A two-dimensional model was used to simulate the thermospheric response to the impulsive high-latitude heating associated with a geomagnetic storm. The storm-induced motions can be characterized by an initial period of transient waves followed by the development of a mean circulation. These motions generate an electrical-current system that is on the same order of magnitude as, and in the opposite sense to the normal s/sub q/ current system. Model-simulated winds and electrical currents were then compared to observations.

The User's Guide is the result of a series of EPA sponsored research projects to develop a procedure to investigate non-stormwater entries into storm drainage systems. A number of past projects have found that dry-weather flows discharging from storm drainage systems can contribute significant pollutant loadings to receiving waters. If these loadings are ignored (by only considering wet-weather stormwater runoff, for example), little improvement in receiving water conditions may occur with many stormwater control programs. These dry-weather flows may originate from many sources, the most important sources may include sanitary wastewater or industrial and commercial pollutant entries, failing septic tank systems, and vehicle maintenance activities. After the outfalls are identified that are affected by polluted dry-weather flows, additional survey activities are needed to locate and correct the non-stormwater entries into the storm drainage systems. The User's Guide contains information to allow the design and conduct of local investigations to identify the types and to estimate the magnitudes of these non-stormwater entries.

Until recently, energy-efficient window retrofit options have largely been limited to repair or replacement; leaving the homeowner to decide between affordability and deeper energy savings. A new and improved low-e storm window boasts a combination of curb appeal and energy efficiency, all for a fraction of the cost of window replacement. A recent whole-home experiment performed by PNNL suggests that attaching low-e storm windows can result in as much energy savings replacing the windows.

Energy Spurring Market Adoption of Energy Efficient Storm Windows Spurring Market Adoption of Energy Efficient Storm Windows June 20, 2016 - 12:53pm Addthis At the Energy Department's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), researchers are using two modular homes to test energy-efficient products and calculate their energy savings. Researchers test new technologies in the Experimental home (pictured above), while the Baseline home (not pictured) serves as a control and doesnĆ¢ĀĀt get

monitoring stations, canyons Los Alamos National Laboratory describes storm damage Los Alamos National Laboratory describes storm damage to environmental monitoring stations, canyons Stations supporting Santa Fe water utility returned to service September 18, 2013 Los Alamos National Laboratory sits on top of a once-remote mesa in northern New Mexico with the Jemez mountains as a backdrop to research and innovation covering multi-disciplines from bioscience, sustainable energy sources, to

A three-dimensional numerical model is used to calculate ground-level air concentration and deposition (due to precipitation scavenging) after a hypothetical tornado strike at a plutonium fabrication facility in Pennsylvania. Plutonium particles less than 10 ..mu..m in diameter are assumed to be lifted into the tornadic storm cell by the vortex. The rotational characteristics of the tornadic storm are embedded within the larger mesoscale flow of the storm system. The design-basis translational wind values are based on probabilities associated with existing records of tornado strikes in the vicinity of the plant site. Turbulence exchange coefficients are based on empirical values deduced from experimental data in severe storms and from theoretical assumptions obtained from the literature. The quasi-Lagrangian method of moments is used to model the transport of concentration within a grid cell volume. In all case studies, the effects of updrafts and downdrafts, coupled with scavenging of the particulates by precipitation, account for most of the material being deposited within 20 to 45 km downwind of the plant site. Ground-level isopleths in the x-y plane show that most of the material is deposited behind and slightly to the left of the centerline trajectory of the storm. Approximately 5% of the material is dispersed into the stratosphere and anvil section of the storm.

Red Storm is an Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) funded massively parallel supercomputer located at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The Red Storm Usage Model (RSUM) documents the capabilities and the environment provided for the FY05 Tri-Lab Level II Limited Availability Red Storm User Environment Milestone and the FY05 SNL Level II Limited Availability Red Storm Platform Milestone. This document describes specific capabilities, tools, and procedures to support both local and remote users. The model is focused on the needs of the ASC user working in the secure computing environments at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and SNL. Additionally, the Red Storm Usage Model maps the provided capabilities to the Tri-Lab ASC Computing Environment (ACE) requirements. The ACE requirements reflect the high performance computing requirements for the ASC community and have been updated in FY05 to reflect the community's needs. For each section of the RSUM, Appendix I maps the ACE requirements to the Limited Availability User Environment capabilities and includes a description of ACE requirements met and those requirements that are not met in that particular section. The Red Storm Usage Model, along with the ACE mappings, has been issued and vetted throughout the Tri-Lab community.

. Extreme events often expose vulnerabilities of socioeconomic infrastructures and point to directions of much-needed policy change. Integrated impact assessment of such events can lead to finding of sustainability principles. Southern and central China has for decades been undergoing a breakneck pace of socioeconomic development. In early 2008, a massive ice storm struck this region, immobilizing millions of people. The storm was a consequence of sustained convergence between tropical maritime and continental polar air masses, caused by an anomalously stable atmospheric general circulation pattern in both low and high latitudes. Successive waves of freezing rain occurred during a month period, coating southern and central China with a layer of ice 50 to 160mm in thickness. We conducted an integrated impact assessment of this event to determine whether and how the context of socioeconomic and human-disturbed natural systems may affect the transition of natural events into human disasters. We found: 1) without contingency plans, advanced technologies dependent on interrelated energy supplies can create worse problems during extreme events, 2) the weakest link in disaster response lies between science and decision making, 3) biodiversity is a form of long-term insurance for sustainable forestry against extreme events, 4) sustainable extraction of non-timber goods and services is essential to risk planning for extreme events in forest resources use, 5) extreme events can cause food shortage directly by destroying crops and indirectly by disrupting food distribution channels, 6) concentrated economic development increases societal vulnerability to extreme events, and 7) formalized institutional mechanisms are needed to ensure that unexpected opportunities to learn lessons from weather disasters are not lost in distracting circumstances.

Saharan dust storms transport large quantities of material across the African continent and beyond, causing widespread disruption and hazards to health. The dust may be deposited into the Atlantic Ocean, where it provides an important source of nutrients1, and may be carried as far as the West Indies. Such events may also influence the growth of Atlantic tropical cyclones. Satellite observations have enabled estimates to be made of the effect of the dust on the radiation budget seen from space, but only limited in situ observations have hitherto been made at the surface. Here we present the first simultaneous and continuous observations of the effect of a major dust storm in March 2006 on the radiation budget both at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and at the surface. We combine data from the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) broadband radiometer and the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) on the Meteosat-8 weather satellite with remote sensing and in situ measurements from a new Mobile Facility located in Niamey, Niger (13{sup o} 29'N, 2{sup o} 10'E), operated by the US Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program. We show that the dust produced major perturbations to the radiation budget seen from space and from the surface. By combining the two datasets, we estimate the impact on the radiation budget of the atmosphere itself. Using independent data from the Mobile Facility, we derive the optical properties of the dust and input these and other information into radiation codes to simulate the radiative fluxes. Comparisons with the observed fluxes provides a stringent test of the ability of the codes to represent the radiative properties of this important component of the global aerosol burden.

One of the most complete data sets describing tropical convection ever collected will result from the upcoming Tropical Warm Pool International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) in the area around Darwin, Northern Australia in January and February 2006. The aims of the experiment, which will be operated in conjunction with the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Darwin, will be to examine convective cloud systems from their initial stages through to the decay of the cirrus generated and to measure their impact on the environment. The experiment will include an unprecedented network of ground-based observations (soundings, active and passive remote sensors) combined with low, mid and high altitude aircraft for in-situ and remote sensing measurements. A crucial outcome of the experiment will be a data set suitable to provide the forcing and evaluation data required by cloud resolving and single column models as well as global climate models (GCMs) with the aim to contribute to parameterization development. This data set will provide the necessary link between the observed cloud properties and the models that are attempting to simulate them. The experiment is a large multi-agency experiment including substantial contributions from the United States DOE ARM program, ARM-UAV program, NASA, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, EU programs and many universities.

In fire-dependent forests, managers are interested in predicting the consequences of prescribed burning on postfire tree mortality. We examined the effects of prescribed fire on tree mortality in Florida Keys pine forests, using a factorial design with understory type, season, and year of burn as factors. We also used logistic regression to model the effects of burn season, fire severity, and tree dimensions on individual tree mortality. Despite limited statistical power due to problems in carrying out the full suite of planned experimental burns, associations with tree and fire variables were observed. Post-fire pine tree mortality was negatively correlated withmoreĀ Ā» tree size and positively correlated with char height and percent crown scorch. Unlike post-fire mortality, tree mortality associated with storm surge from Hurricane Wilma was greater in the large size classes. Due to their influence on population structure and fuel dynamics, the size-selective mortality patterns following fire and storm surge have practical importance for using fire as a management tool in Florida Keys pinelands in the future, particularly when the threats to their continued existence from tropicalstorms and sea level rise are expected to increase.Ā«Ā less

In fire-dependent forests, managers are interested in predicting the consequences of prescribed burning on postfire tree mortality. We examined the effects of prescribed fire on tree mortality in Florida Keys pine forests, using a factorial design with understory type, season, and year of burn as factors. We also used logistic regression to model the effects of burn season, fire severity, and tree dimensions on individual tree mortality. Despite limited statistical power due to problems in carrying out the full suite of planned experimental burns, associations with tree and fire variables were observed. Post-fire pine tree mortality was negatively correlated withmore »tree size and positively correlated with char height and percent crown scorch. Unlike post-fire mortality, tree mortality associated with storm surge from Hurricane Wilma was greater in the large size classes. Due to their influence on population structure and fuel dynamics, the size-selective mortality patterns following fire and storm surge have practical importance for using fire as a management tool in Florida Keys pinelands in the future, particularly when the threats to their continued existence from tropicalstorms and sea level rise are expected to increase.« less

Our article reviews the current status of the nuSTORM facility and shows how it can be utilized to perform the next step on the path toward the realization of a Ī¼+Ī¼- collider. This review includes the physics motivation behind nuSTORM, a detailed description of the facility and the neutrino beams it can produce, and a summary of the short-baseline neutrino oscillation physics program that can be carried out at the facility. The idea for nuSTORM (the production of neutrino beams from the decay of muons in a racetrack-like decay ring) was discussed in the literature more than 30 years ago in the context of searching for noninteracting (sterile) neutrinos. However, only in the past 5 years has the concept been fully developed, motivated in large part by the facility's unmatched reach in addressing the evolving data on oscillations involving sterile neutrinos. Finally, this article reviews the basics of the Ī¼+Ī¼-collider concept and describes how nuSTORM provides a platform to test advanced concepts for six-dimensional muon ionization cooling.

Our article reviews the current status of the nuSTORM facility and shows how it can be utilized to perform the next step on the path toward the realization of a Ī¼+Ī¼- collider. This review includes the physics motivation behind nuSTORM, a detailed description of the facility and the neutrino beams it can produce, and a summary of the short-baseline neutrino oscillation physics program that can be carried out at the facility. The idea for nuSTORM (the production of neutrino beams from the decay of muons in a racetrack-like decay ring) was discussed in the literature more than 30 years agomoreĀ Ā» in the context of searching for noninteracting (sterile) neutrinos. However, only in the past 5 years has the concept been fully developed, motivated in large part by the facility's unmatched reach in addressing the evolving data on oscillations involving sterile neutrinos. Finally, this article reviews the basics of the Ī¼+Ī¼-collider concept and describes how nuSTORM provides a platform to test advanced concepts for six-dimensional muon ionization cooling.Ā«Ā less

Our article reviews the current status of the nuSTORM facility and shows how it can be utilized to perform the next step on the path toward the realization of a ?+?- collider. This review includes the physics motivation behind nuSTORM, a detailed description of the facility and the neutrino beams it can produce, and a summary of the short-baseline neutrino oscillation physics program that can be carried out at the facility. The idea for nuSTORM (the production of neutrino beams from the decay of muons in a racetrack-like decay ring) was discussed in the literature more than 30 years ago in the context of searching for noninteracting (sterile) neutrinos. However, only in the past 5 years has the concept been fully developed, motivated in large part by the facility's unmatched reach in addressing the evolving data on oscillations involving sterile neutrinos. Finally, this article reviews the basics of the ?+?-collider concept and describes how nuSTORM provides a platform to test advanced concepts for six-dimensional muon ionization cooling.

Tropical forests constitute about half of the world's forest and are characterized by rapid rates of organic matter turnover and high storages of organic matter. Tropical forests are considered to be one of the most significant terrestrial elements in the equation that balances the carbon cycle of the world. As discussed in the paper by Tosi, tropical and subtropical latitudes are more complex in terms of climate and vegetation composition than temperate and boreal latitudes. The implications of the complexity of the tropics and the disregard of this complexity by many scientists is made evident in the paper by Brown and Lugo which shows that biomass estimates for tropical ecosystems have been overestimated by at least 100%. The paper by Brown shows that that rates of succession in the tropics are extremely rapid in terms of the ability of moist and wet forests to accumulate organic matter. Yet, in arid tropical Life Zones succession is slow. This leads to the idea that the question of whether tropical forests are sinks or sources of carbon must be analyzed in relation to Life Zones and to intensities of human activity in these Zones. The paper by Lugo presents conceptual models to illustrate this point and the paper by Tosi shows how land uses in the tropics also correspond to Life Zone characteristics. The ultimate significance of land use to the question of the carbon balance in a large region is addressed in the paper by Detwiler and Hall.

Topics addressed include: abrupt climate changes and ocean circulation in the tropics; what controls the ocean thermal structure in the tropics; a permanent El NiĆ±o in paleoclimates; the energetics of the tropical ocean.

| Department of Energy Analyzing Energy Infrastructure Exposure to Storm Surge and Sea-Level Rise Analyzing Energy Infrastructure Exposure to Storm Surge and Sea-Level Rise Analyzing Energy Infrastructure Exposure to Storm Surge and Sea-Level Rise The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) is tasked with assessing risk from all hazards to the nation's energy infrastructure. As part of our commitment to understand the risks from climate change and extreme events and help

Season: Restoring Power after a Big Storm Hurricane Season: Restoring Power after a Big Storm June 5, 2012 - 4:01pm Addthis Hurricane Irene made landfall on the coast of North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane during the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 hurricane season. | Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hurricane Irene made landfall on the coast of North Carolina as a

This study examines the performance of exterior and interior low-e storm panels with a controlled whole home experimental design using PNNL's Lab Homes. Summing the estimated annual average heating and cooling savings, the installation of low-e storm panels resulted in approximately 10% annual energy savings. The results of the experiment will be used to determine and validate performance of low-e storm windows over double pane clear glass windows in a whole home setting.

Images of Titan's clouds, possible over the past 10 years, indicate primarily discrete convective methane clouds near the south and north poles and an immense stratiform cloud, likely composed of ethane, around the north pole. Here we present spectral images from Cassini's Visual Mapping Infrared Spectrometer that reveal the increasing presence of clouds in Titan's tropical atmosphere. Radiative transfer analyses indicate similarities between summer polar and tropical methane clouds. Like their southern counterparts, tropical clouds consist of particles exceeding 5 {mu}m. They display discrete structures suggestive of convective cumuli. They prevail at a specific latitude band between 8 deg. - 20 deg. S, indicative of a circulation origin and the beginning of a circulation turnover. Yet, unlike the high latitude clouds that often reach 45 km altitude, these discrete tropical clouds, so far, remain capped to altitudes below 26 km. Such low convective clouds are consistent with the highly stable atmospheric conditions measured at the Huygens landing site. Their characteristics suggest that Titan's tropical atmosphere has a dry climate unlike the south polar atmosphere, and despite the numerous washes that carve the tropical landscape.

The nuSTORM (neutrinos from STORed Muons) proposal presents a detailed design for a neutrino facility based on a muon storage ring, with muon decay in the production straight section of the ring providing well defined neutrino beams. The facility includes a primary high-energy proton beam line, a target station with pion production and collection, and a pion beamline for pion transportation and injection into a muon decay ring. The nuSTORM design uses āstochastic injectionā, in which pions are directed by a chicane, referred to as the Orbit Combination Section (OCS), into the production straight section of the storage ring. Pions that decay within that straight section provide muons within the circulating acceptance of the ring. Furthermore, the design enables injection without kickers or a separate pion decay transport line. The beam line that the pions traverse before being extracted from the decay ring is referred to as the pion beamline. Our paper describes the design and simulation of the pion beamline, and includes full beam dynamics simulations of the system.

From 2 to 5 UT on 14 November 2012, the Van Allen Probes observed repeated particle flux dropouts during the main phase of a geomagnetic storm as the satellites traversed the post-midnight to dawnside inner magnetosphere. Each flux dropout corresponded to an abrupt change in the magnetic topology, i.e., from a more dipolar configuration to a configuration with magnetic field lines stretched in the dawn-dusk direction. Geosynchronous GOES spacecraft located in the dusk and near-midnight sectors and the LANL constellation with wide local time coverage also observed repeated flux dropouts and stretched field lines with similar occurrence patterns to those of the Van Allen Probe events. THEMIS recorded multiple transient abrupt expansions of the evening-side magnetopause ~20ā30 min prior to the sequential Van Allen Probes observations. Ground-based magnetograms and all sky images demonstrate repeatable features in conjunction with the dropouts. We combine the various in-situ and ground-based measurements to define and understand the global spatiotemporal features associated with the dropouts observed by the Van Allen Probes. We discuss various proposed hypotheses for the mechanism that plausibly caused this storm-time dropout event as well as formulate a new hypothesis that explains the combined in-situ and ground-based observations: the earthward motion of magnetic flux ropes containing lobe plasmas that form along an extended magnetotail reconnection line in the near-Earth plasma sheet.

From 2 to 5 UT on 14 November 2012, the Van Allen Probes observed repeated particle flux dropouts during the main phase of a geomagnetic storm as the satellites traversed the post-midnight to dawnside inner magnetosphere. Each flux dropout corresponded to an abrupt change in the magnetic topology, i.e., from a more dipolar configuration to a configuration with magnetic field lines stretched in the dawn-dusk direction. Geosynchronous GOES spacecraft located in the dusk and near-midnight sectors and the LANL constellation with wide local time coverage also observed repeated flux dropouts and stretched field lines with similar occurrence patterns to thosemoreĀ Ā» of the Van Allen Probe events. THEMIS recorded multiple transient abrupt expansions of the evening-side magnetopause ~20ā30 min prior to the sequential Van Allen Probes observations. Ground-based magnetograms and all sky images demonstrate repeatable features in conjunction with the dropouts. We combine the various in-situ and ground-based measurements to define and understand the global spatiotemporal features associated with the dropouts observed by the Van Allen Probes. We discuss various proposed hypotheses for the mechanism that plausibly caused this storm-time dropout event as well as formulate a new hypothesis that explains the combined in-situ and ground-based observations: the earthward motion of magnetic flux ropes containing lobe plasmas that form along an extended magnetotail reconnection line in the near-Earth plasma sheet.Ā«Ā less

From 2 to 5 UT on 14 November 2012, the Van Allen Probes observed repeated particle flux dropouts during the main phase of a geomagnetic storm as the satellites traversed the post-midnight to dawnside inner magnetosphere. Each flux dropout corresponded to an abrupt change in the magnetic topology, i.e., from a more dipolar configuration to a configuration with magnetic field lines stretched in the dawn-dusk direction. Geosynchronous GOES spacecraft located in the dusk and near-midnight sectors and the LANL constellation with wide local time coverage also observed repeated flux dropouts and stretched field lines with similar occurrence patterns to those of the Van Allen Probe events. THEMIS recorded multiple transient abrupt expansions of the evening-side magnetopause ~2030 min prior to the sequential Van Allen Probes observations. Ground-based magnetograms and all sky images demonstrate repeatable features in conjunction with the dropouts. We combine the various in-situ and ground-based measurements to define and understand the global spatiotemporal features associated with the dropouts observed by the Van Allen Probes. We discuss various proposed hypotheses for the mechanism that plausibly caused this storm-time dropout event as well as formulate a new hypothesis that explains the combined in-situ and ground-based observations: the earthward motion of magnetic flux ropes containing lobe plasmas that form along an extended magnetotail reconnection line in the near-Earth plasma sheet.

The nuSTORM (neutrinos from STORed Muons) proposal presents a detailed design for a neutrino facility based on a muon storage ring, with muon decay in the production straight section of the ring providing well defined neutrino beams. The facility includes a primary high-energy proton beam line, a target station with pion production and collection, and a pion beamline for pion transportation and injection into a muon decay ring. The nuSTORM design uses āstochastic injectionā, in which pions are directed by a chicane, referred to as the Orbit Combination Section (OCS), into the production straight section of the storage ring. PionsmoreĀ Ā» that decay within that straight section provide muons within the circulating acceptance of the ring. Furthermore, the design enables injection without kickers or a separate pion decay transport line. The beam line that the pions traverse before being extracted from the decay ring is referred to as the pion beamline. Our paper describes the design and simulation of the pion beamline, and includes full beam dynamics simulations of the system.Ā«Ā less

The tropical belt has become wider over the past decades, but climate models fall short of capturing the full rate of the expansion. The latest analysis of the climate simulations suggests that a long-term swing of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation is the main missing cause.

Installing low-emissivity (low-E) storm windows and panels over existing windows has been identified as a cost-effective new approach for improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings where window replacement is impractical or too expensive. As such, it is desirable to characterize the key energy performance properties of low-E storm windows and panels when installed over different types of existing primary windows. this paper presents the representative U-factors, solar heat gain coefficients (SGHCs) and visible transmittance properties of the combined assemblies of various storm windows and panel types installed over different primary windows.

The Red Storm architecture, which was conceived by Sandia National Laboratories and implemented by Cray, Inc., has become the basis for most successful line of commercial supercomputers in history. The success of the Red Storm architecture is due largely to the ability to effectively and efficiently solve a wide range of science and engineering problems. The Cray XT series of machines that embody the Red Storm architecture have allowed for unprecedented scaling and performance of parallel applications spanning many areas of scientific computing. In this paper, we describe the fundamental characteristics of the architecture and its implementation that have enabled this success, even through successive generations of hardware and software.

This hurricane season, which officially starts on Sunday, the Sunshine State will be more ready than usual to recover from storms that wreak havoc, thanks to the SunSmart Schools and Emergency Shelters Program. Learn more.

The storm water pollution prevention program at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12 Complex) intends to protect the quality of storm water runoff through: (1) reducing the exposure of metal accumulation areas to precipitation, (2) implementation of Best Management Practices, (3) sampling during rain events and subsequent analysis, and (4) routine surveillances. When prescribed, the analytical data is compared to a set of cut-off concentration values to determine how the Y-12 Complex relates to other metal fabrication industries in the state of Tennessee. The quality of the storm water exiting the Y-12 Complex via East Fork Poplar Creek indicated some improvement in 2011. This improvement is attributable to the completion of several construction, demolition and remediation projects which occurred in 2010 and 2011. Emphasis will continue to be placed on site inspections and the timely implementation of improved storm water control measures as deemed necessary.

Clean Water Compliance Section of the Environment Compliance Department

2012-01-01

The storm water pollution prevention program at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12 Complex) intends to protect the quality of storm water runoff through: (1) reducing the exposure of metal accumulation areas to precipitation, (2) implementation of Best Management Practices, (3) sampling during rain events and subsequent analysis, and (4) routine surveillances. When prescribed, the analytical data is compared to a set of cut-off concentration values to determine how the Y-12 Complex relates to other metal fabrication industries in the state of Tennessee. The quality of the storm water exiting the Y-12 Complex via East Fork Poplar Creek indicated some improvement in 2011. This improvement is attributable to the completion of several construction, demolition and remediation projects which occurred in 2010 and 2011. Emphasis will continue to be placed on site inspections and the timely implementation of improved storm water control measures as deemed necessary.

The Stringfellow Hazardous Waste Site is a former Class 1 industrial waste disposal facility located near the community of Glen Avon in southern California. In response to community concerns regarding flooding and possible exposure to contaminants via the surface water pathway, a study was performed to evaluate the potential effect significant/episodic storm events may have on the site and its engineered structures as they exist during present day conditions. Specific storm events such as significant recorded historic storms as well as synthetic design storms were considered and the impact on the onsite area and surface channels in Pyrite Canyon downstream of the site was evaluated. Conclusions were reached, and recommendations were made to minimize the potential flood impacts and exposure to contaminants via the surface water pathway in the areas downstream of the site.

Field studies sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have shown that the use of low-e storm windows can lead to significant heating and cooling energy savings in residential homes. This study examines the market for low-e storm windows based on market data, case studies, and recent experience with weatherization deployment programs. It uses information from interviews conducted with DOE researchers and industry partners involved in case studies and early deployment efforts related to low-e storm windows. In addition, this study examines potential barriers to market acceptance, assesses the market and energy savings potential, and identifies opportunities to transform the market for low-e storm windows and overcome market adoption barriers.

This Building America webinar presented a new and improved low-e storm window that boasts a combination of curb appeal and energy efficiency, all for a fraction of the cost of window replacement, on Sept. 9, 2014.

discrepancies between coarse and high-resolution simulations and observations (Technical Report) | SciTech Connect Winter storms and the Spring Transition over the western U.S.: Quantifying discrepancies between coarse and high-resolution simulations and observations Citation Details In-Document Search Title: Winter storms and the Spring Transition over the western U.S.: Quantifying discrepancies between coarse and high-resolution simulations and observations This project addressed the

The first part of the paper presents the massive changes in tropical land management in the Philippines as a result of a {open_quotes}paradigm shift{close_quotes} in forestry. The second part of the paper analyzes the impacts of the above management strategies on global warming, in general, preserved forests are neither sinks not sources of greenhouse gasses (GHG). Reforestation activities are primarily net sinks of carbon specially the use of fast growing reforestation species. Estimates are given for the carbon-sequestering ability of some commonly used species. The last part of the paper policy recommendations and possible courses of action by the government to maximize the role of forest lands in the mitigation of global warming. Private sector initiatives are also explored.

Properties of tropical convection observed by ARM millimeter-radars Haynes, John Colorado State University Stephens, Graeme Colorado State University Category: Cloud Properties The results of an analysis of tropical cloud systems observed from a variety of vertically pointing radar systems are described. In particular, observations taken during five years of operation of the ARM millimeter wavelength radar system (MMCR) at Manus Island in the Tropical West Pacific region are characterized into

The goal of the 7X performance testing was to assure Sandia National Laboratories, Cray Inc., and the Department of Energy that Red Storm would achieve its performance requirements which were defined as a comparison between ASCI Red and Red Storm. Our approach was to identify one or more problems for each application in the 7X suite, run those problems at multiple processor sizes in the capability computing range, and compare the results between ASCI Red and Red Storm. The first part of this report describes the two computer systems, the applications in the 7X suite, the test problems, and the results of the performance tests on ASCI Red and Red Storm. During the course of the testing on Red Storm, we had the opportunity to run the test problems in both single-core mode and dual-core mode and the second part of this report describes those results. Finally, we reflect on lessons learned in undertaking a major head-to-head benchmark comparison.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) prepared this environmental assessment (EA) to evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with proposed and alternative actions to achieve water quality permit compliance at 38 storm water outfalls located at the Savannah River Site (SRS) (Figure 1-1). Effluent monitoring data indicates that some of these outfalls may not presently comply with new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Storm Water General Permit effluent standards that became effective July 1, 2005 (SCR000000). The NPDES permit requires that best management practices (BMPs) be implemented and maintained, as necessary, to ensure that storm water discharges at SRS do not cause or contribute to the contravention of applicable state water quality standards (WQS).

This article discusses the problem of identifying extreme climate events such as intense storms within large climate data sets. The basic storm detection algorithm is reviewed, which splits the problem into two parts: a spatial search followed by a temporal correlation problem. Two specific implementations of the spatial search algorithm are compared. The commonly used grid point search algorithm is reviewed, and a new algorithm called Stride Search is introduced. Stride Search is designed to work at all latitudes, while grid point searches may fail in polar regions. Results from the two algorithms are compared for the application of tropicalmoreĀ Ā» cyclone detection, and shown to produce similar results for the same set of storm identification criteria. The time required for both algorithms to search the same data set is compared. Furthermore, Stride Search's ability to search extreme latitudes is demonstrated for the case of polar low detection.Ā«Ā less

The proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)--nuclear, biological, and chemical--is occurring throughout the Third World. Desert Storm offers an excellent case study for assessing the various measures and operations which can be employed to protect U.S.. forces against an adversary possessing a WMD capability. The elements of Desert Storm's successful strategy can be categorized in three broad approaches--deterrence, denial, and defense. All three approaches were necessary and syngergistic. In the future, the ability to quickly deny or destroy an adversary's WMD capability will be increasingly important, due to the unacceptability of exposing forces to any type of NBC agent, the likelihood for increased uncertainty surrounding deterrent threats, and the diplomatic, political, and psychological dilemmas posed by an adversary's first use....Weapons of mass destruction, Desert Storm.

This research examined the relationship between sediment sample data taken at Potential Release Sites (PRSs) and storm water samples taken at selected sites in and around Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The PRSs had been evaluated for erosion potential and a matrix scoring system implemented. It was assumed that there would be a stronger relationship between the high erosion PRSs and the storm water samples. To establish the relationship, the research was broken into two areas. The first area was raster-based modeling, and the second area was data analysis utilizing the raster based modeling results and the sediment and storm water sample results. Two geodatabases were created utilizing raster modeling functions and the Arc Hydro program. The geodatabase created using only Arc Hydro functions contains very fine catchment drainage areas in association with the geometric network and can be used for future contaminant tracking. The second geodatabase contains sub-watersheds for all storm water stations used in the study along with a geometric network. The second area of the study focused on data analysis. The analytical sediment data table was joined to the PRSs spatial data in ArcMap. All PRSs and PRSs with high erosion potential were joined separately to create two datasets for each of 14 analytes. Only the PRSs above the background value were retained. The storm water station spatial data were joined to the table of analyte values that were either greater than the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) benchmark value, or the Department of Energy (DOE) Drinking Water Defined Contribution Guideline (DWDCG). Only the storm water stations were retained that had sample values greater than the NPDES MSGP benchmark value or the DOE DWDCG. Separate maps were created for each analyte showing the sub-watersheds, the PRSs over background, and the storm water stations greater than the NPDES MSGP benchmark value or the

This report builds off of previous modeling work related to low-e storm windows used to create a "Database of U.S. Climate-Based Analysis for Low-E Storm Windows." This work updates similar studies using new fuel costs and examining the separate contributions of reduced air leakage and reduced coefficients of overall heat transfer and solar heat gain. In this report we examine the energy savings and cost effectiveness of low-E storm windows in residential homes across a broad range of U.S. climates, excluding the impact from infiltration reductions, which tend to vary using the National Energy Audit Tool (NEAT) and RESFEN model calculations. This report includes a summary of the results, NEAT and RESFEN background, methodology, and input assumptions, and an appendix with detailed results and assumptions by climate zone.

Energy EI2 Insulation Helps Anxious Pooch Find Calm in the Storm EI2 Insulation Helps Anxious Pooch Find Calm in the Storm Photo of a dog sitting on a bed or couch with a stuffed toy in front of it. People aren't the only ones who must endure the discomfort of a drafty room. As a recent letter sent to Energy Impact Illinois (EI2) contractor Anthony Stonis from customer Stephanie Marder points out, even man's best friend can benefit from the increased comfort of an air-sealing upgrade.

Winter Storm Fire Safety A wide range of natural disasters occurs within the United States every year. Natural disasters can have a devastating effect on you and your home. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's U.S. Fire Administration encourages you to use the following safety tips to help protect yourself, your family and your home from the potential threat of fire during or after a winter storm. You can greatly reduce your chances of becoming a fire casualty by being able to identify

This is an update of a report that describes process, assumptions, and modeling results produced Create a Database of U.S. Climate-Based Analysis for Low-E Storm Windows. The scope of the overall effort is to develop a database of energy savings and cost effectiveness of low-E storm windows in residential homes across a broad range of U.S. climates using the National Energy Audit Tool (NEAT) and RESFEN model calculations. This report includes a summary of the results, NEAT and RESFEN background, methodology, and input assumptions, and an appendix with detailed results and assumptions by cliamte zone.

Incoherent scatter radar observations from Millstone Hill, Saint Santin, and Arecibo are used to illustrate changes of the topside ionosphere during a geomagnetic storm. These observations consist of electron density, electron and ion temperatures, and ion velocity components parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. These parameters can further describe changes in ion composition, electric fields, and neutral winds. Attention is given to a specific storm during the Equinox Transition Study (ETS) of September 1984. In order to isolate the storm effects in the topside ionosphere, a comparison will be made between a disturbed and quiet day. A novel result from this study is the finding of correlated oscillations between parallel and perpendicular ion velocity components which are apparently storm induced. Previously, these oscillations have been observed primarily at night, but now it's noticed that during storm conditions there are prominent oscillations during the day.

Smart grid technologies are helping utilities to speed outage restoration following major storm events, reduce the total number of affected customers, and improve overall service reliability to reduce customer losses from power disruptions. This report presents findings on smart grid improvements in outage management from OE's Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) program, based on the recent experiences of three SGIG projects.

This is the second annual storm water report prepared in accordance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued to the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12 Complex) on December 1, 2011, and the corresponding Y-12 Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3) which became effective on September 7, 2012. However, Appendix A does contain some analytical data gathered under the previous NPDES permit and SWP3 for comparison purposes. The quality of storm water exiting the Y-12 Complex via East Fork Poplar Creek remained relatively stable from 2012 to 2013. However, there was one largely unexpected high concentration of mercury noted in an area that is not known to have previously been a mercury use area. This was noted in Sector AA, Outfall 014. This outfall is normally sampled on a rotating basis but, due this elevated concentration, will be sampled again in 2014. The Y-12 Complex will continue to implement appropriate BMPs and reduce outside material storage ares where possible. Emphasis will continue to be placed on site inspections and timely implementation of proper storm water control measures.

The Department of Energyās (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research project, āWater Cycle and Climate Extremes Modelingā is improving our understanding and modeling of regional details of the Earthās water cycle. Sandia is using high resolution model behavior to investigate storms in the Arctic.

We have generated a suite of products that includes merged soundings, cloud microphysics, and radiative fluxes and heating profiles. The cloud microphysics is strongly based on the ARM Microbase value added product (Miller et al., 2003). We have made a few changes to the microbase parameterizations to address issues we observed in our initial analysis of the tropical data. The merged sounding product is not directly related to the product developed by ARM but is similar in that it uses the microwave radiometer to scale the radiosonde column water vapor. The radiative fluxes also differ from the ARM BBHRP (Broadband Heating Rate Profile) product in terms of the radiative transfer model and the sampling interval.

We have generated a suite of products that includes merged soundings, cloud microphysics, and radiative fluxes and heating profiles. The cloud microphysics is strongly based on the ARM Microbase value added product (Miller et al., 2003). We have made a few changes to the microbase parameterizations to address issues we observed in our initial analysis of the tropical data. The merged sounding product is not directly related to the product developed by ARM but is similar in that it uses the microwave radiometer to scale the radiosonde column water vapor. The radiative fluxes also differ from the ARM BBHRP (Broadband Heating Rate Profile) product in terms of the radiative transfer model and the sampling interval.

A potential influence of tropical sea surface temperature on the global climate response to a doubling of the CO{sub 2} concentration is tested using an atmospheric general circulation model coupled to a slab mixed layer ocean. The warming is significantly reduced when sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific cold tongue region between latitudes 2.25{degrees}N and 2.25{degrees}S are held at the control simulation values. Warming of the global mean temperature outside of the cold tongue region is reduced from 2.4{degrees}C in the unconstrained case to 1.9{degrees}C when the sea surface temperature constraint is applied. The decrease in the warming results from a positive net heat flux into the ocean cold tongue region and implicit heat storage in the subsurface ocean, induced by horizontal atmospheric heat fluxes. The reduced surface temperature warming outside of the cold tongue region is due to reduction in the downward longwave radiative flux at the surface, caused in turn by reduced atmospheric temperature and moisture. The global mean surface temperature responds to the heat storage in the ocean as if the global mean radiative forcing due to the doubled CO{sub 2} (approximately 4 W m{sup {minus}2}) was reduced by the value of the global mean heat flux into the ocean. This mechanism also provides a possible explanation for the observed high correlation on interannual timescales between the global mean tropospheric temperature and sea surface temperature in the eastern tropical Pacific. The results emphasize the importance of correctly modeling the dynamical processes in the ocean and atmosphere that help determine the sea surface temperature in the equatorial eastern Pacific, in addition to the thermodynamical processes, in projecting global warming. 23 refs., 8 figs.

Annual PSNS non-dry dock storm water monitoring results for 2011-2012 storm season. Included are a brief description of the sampling procedures, storm event information, laboratory methods and data collection, a results and discussion section, and the conclusions and recommendations.

Design guidelines outline high performance principles for the new or retrofit design of K-12 schools in tropical island climates. By incorporating energy improvements into construction or renovation plans, schools can reduce energy consumption and costs.

In July 2003, the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research designated the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement sites as National User Facilities and renamed them the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF). As a result, the former ARM Cloud and Radiation Test bed (CART) sites are now collectively called Climate Research Sites. Part of the conditions associated with funding for ACRF is that the ARM program must attract new users. Located in Australia, and the island nations of Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Nauru, the three Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) research facilities offer unique scientific opportunities to prospective users. Although the locations of the facilities pose significant logistical challenges, particularly the two island sites, the TWP Office addresses these issues so that prospective users can focus on their research. The TWP Office oversees the operation of these sites by collaborating with the governments of Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Republic of Nauru. Local observers are trained to effectively operate and maintain the facilities, and the state-side TWP Office offers supporting resources including daily instrument monitoring; equipment shipping, inventory tracking; customs coordination; and a readily deployable technical maintenance team at relatively minimal cost to prospective users. Satellite communications allow continuous, near-real time data from all three stations. The TWP Office also works diligently to maintain good local government and community relations with active outreach programs. This paper presents the TWP research facilities as the valuable resources they are to the scientific community.

In this study, marine nonprecipitating cumulus topped boundary layers (CTBLs) observed in a tropical and in a trade wind region are contrasted based on their cloud macrophysical, dynamical, and radiative structures. Data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) observational site previously operating at Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, and data collected during the deployment of ARM Mobile Facility at the island of Graciosa, in the Azores, were used in this study. The tropical marine CTBLs were deeper, had higher surface fluxes and boundary layer radiative cooling, but lower wind speeds compared to their trade wind counterparts. The radiative velocity scale was 50%-70% of the surface convective velocity scale at both locations, highlighting the prominent role played by radiation in maintaining turbulence in marine CTBLs. Despite greater thicknesses, the chord lengths of tropical cumuli were on average lower than those of trade wind cumuli, and as a result of lower cloud cover, the hourly averaged (cloudy and clear) liquid water paths of tropical cumuli were lower than the trade wind cumuli. At both locations ~70% of the cloudy profiles were updrafts, while the average amount of updrafts near cloud base stronger than 1 m sā1 was ~22% in tropical cumuli and ~12% in the trade wind cumuli. The mean in-cloud radar reflectivity within updrafts and mean updraft velocity was higher in tropical cumuli than the trade wind cumuli. Despite stronger vertical velocities and a higher number of strong updrafts, due to lower cloud fraction, the updraft mass flux was lower in the tropical cumuli compared to the trade wind cumuli. The observations suggest that the tropical and trade wind marine cumulus clouds differ significantly in their macrophysical and dynamical structures

In this study, marine nonprecipitating cumulus topped boundary layers (CTBLs) observed in a tropical and in a trade wind region are contrasted based on their cloud macrophysical, dynamical, and radiative structures. Data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) observational site previously operating at Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, and data collected during the deployment of ARM Mobile Facility at the island of Graciosa, in the Azores, were used in this study. The tropical marine CTBLs were deeper, had higher surface fluxes and boundary layer radiative cooling, but lower wind speeds compared to their trade wind counterparts. The radiative velocity scalemoreĀ Ā» was 50%-70% of the surface convective velocity scale at both locations, highlighting the prominent role played by radiation in maintaining turbulence in marine CTBLs. Despite greater thicknesses, the chord lengths of tropical cumuli were on average lower than those of trade wind cumuli, and as a result of lower cloud cover, the hourly averaged (cloudy and clear) liquid water paths of tropical cumuli were lower than the trade wind cumuli. At both locations ~70% of the cloudy profiles were updrafts, while the average amount of updrafts near cloud base stronger than 1 m sā1 was ~22% in tropical cumuli and ~12% in the trade wind cumuli. The mean in-cloud radar reflectivity within updrafts and mean updraft velocity was higher in tropical cumuli than the trade wind cumuli. Despite stronger vertical velocities and a higher number of strong updrafts, due to lower cloud fraction, the updraft mass flux was lower in the tropical cumuli compared to the trade wind cumuli. The observations suggest that the tropical and trade wind marine cumulus clouds differ significantly in their macrophysical and dynamical structuresĀ«Ā less

Lagrangian Diagnostics of Tropical Cirrus over TWP CART Sites Horvath, Akos University of Miami Soden, Brian UM/RSMAS Category: Cloud Properties Cirrus clouds associated with tropical deep convection play an important role in regulating Earth's climate by influencing the radiative and moisture budgets of the upper troposphere. In this study, we sought to better understand the evolution of such clouds using geostationary satellite observations coupled with ground-based radar and lidar

Limiting Factors for Convective Cloud Top Height in the Tropics M. P. Jensen and A. D. Del Genio National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Institute for Space Studies Columbia University New York, New York Introduction Populations of tropical convective clouds are mainly comprised of three types: shallow trade cumulus, mid-level cumulus congestus and deep convective clouds (Johnson et al. 1999). Each of these cloud types has different impacts on the local radiation and water budgets.

Tropical Warm Pool International Cloud Experiment General Description The Tropical Warm Pool - International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) was a collaborative effort led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Beginning January 21 and ending February 14, 2006, the experiment was conducted in the region near the ARM Climate Research Facility in Darwin, Northern Australia. This permanent facility is fully equipped

Patterns of Convection in the Tropical Western Pacific J. H. Mather Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland, Washington Introduction Convection is ubiquitous throughout the maritime continent region. However, the frequency of convec- tion is not uniform. While much of this region does not experience seasons to the same degree as one finds in mid-latitudes, the annual cycle of the sun's passage does have a large impact on convection throughout the maritime continent and the tropical

multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. Early Experience with Red Storm April 19, 2005 Sue Kelly and Bob Ballance Sandia National Laboratories smkelly@sandia.gov, 505-845-9770 Outline of Talk * Overview of Red Storm * Where we are * How we got here * Where we're going * What we learned Red Storm is a Massively Parallel Processor Users

The major components of the nearshore marine ecosystems in the subtropics and tropics (seagrasses, mangroves, and corals) are examined and compound sublethal and lethal effects from extremes in some energy-related effects (temperature, salinity and light) are discussed.

Local drainage analyses have been performed for the Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants during an extreme storm having an approximate 10,000-yr recurrence interval. This review discusses the methods utilized to accomplish the analyses in accordance with US Department of Energy (DOE) design and evaluation guidelines, and summarizes trends, results, generalizations, and uncertainties applicable to other DOE facilities. Results indicate that some culverts may be undersized, and that the storm sewer system cannot drain the influx of precipitation from the base of buildings. Roofs have not been designed to sustain ponding when the primary drainage system is clogged. Some underground tunnels, building entrances, and ground level air intakes may require waterproofing.

During the Storm Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment (STORMVEX), a substantial correlative data set of remote sensing observations and direct in situ measurements from fixed and airborne platforms will be created in a winter season, mountainous environment. This will be accomplished by combining mountaintop observations at Storm Peak Laboratory and the airborne National Science Foundation-supported Colorado Airborne Multi-Phase Cloud Study campaign with collocated measurements from the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2). We describe in this document the operational plans and motivating science for this experiment, which includes deployment of AMF2 to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The intensive STORMVEX field phase will begin nominally on 1 November 2010 and extend to approximately early April 2011.

The report represents an overview of the EPA's Storm and Combined Sewer Pollution Control Research Program performed over a 20-year period beginning with the mid-1960s. It covers Program involvements in the development of a diverse technology including pollution-problem assessment/solution methodology and associated instrumentation and stormwater management models, best management practices, erosion control, infiltration/inflow, control, control-treatment technology and the associated sludge and solids residuals handling and many others.

Office of Scientific and Technical Information geomagnetic storms Topic Plasmas - The Greatest Show on Earth by Kathy Chambers 24 Jun, 2013 in Products and Content Perhaps the most beautiful and eerie displays of light in our sky are a phenomenon known as the auroras. This natural glow of light in the sky in high latitude regions usually displays ribbons of colors from a fluorescent green to brilliant purple to a vivid crimson somewhat like an unexpected beautiful sunrise or sunset.

Lightning detection and warning hardware and software were purchased to evaluate the capability to provide DX Division firing site personnel with metrics to aid in determining when it was not safe to perform outdoor activities due to hazardous lightning conditions. The system was to be tested during the May through September 2001 lightning season and the data taken was to be analyzed to determine the suitability of the equipment and what would be needed to implement a lightning detection and warning system. The Department of Energy mandated that this equipment be implemented and used to provide lightning safety warnings as a condition of permitting high explosive (HE) firing operations at the DARHT facility. This was later expanded to include HE operations at Phermex and LANSCE.

The solar wind-magnetosphere coupling problem is investigated for the ten intense magnetic storms (Dst {lt}{minus}100 nT) that occurred during the 500 days (August 16, 1978 to December 28, 1979) studied by Gonzalez and Tsurutani (1987). This investigation concentrates on the ring current energization in terms of solar wind parameters, in order to explain the {vert bar} {minus}Dst {vert bar} growth observed during these storms. Thus several coupling functions are tested as energy input and several sets of the ring current decay time-constant {tau} are searched to find best correlations with the Dst response. From the fairly large correlation coefficients found in this study, there is strong evidence that large scale magnetopause reconnection operates during such intense storm events and that the solar wind ram pressure plays an important role in the ring current energization. Thus a ram pressure correction factor is suggested for expressions concerning the reconnection power during time intervals with large ram pressure variations.

This field study of a single historic home in Seattle, WA documents the performance of Indow Windowsās interior storm window inserts. Energy use and the temperature profile of the house were monitored before and after the installation of the window inserts and changes in the two recorded metrics were examined. Using the defined analysis approach, it was determined that the interior storm windows produced a 22% reduction of the HVAC energy bill and had an undetermined effect on the thermal comfort in the house. Although there was no measurable changes in the thermal comfort of the house, the occupant noted the house to be āwarmer in the winter and cooler in the summerā and that the ātemperatures are more even (throughout the house).ā The interior storm windows were found to be not cost effective, largely due to the retrofits completed on its heating system. However, if the economic analysis was conducted based on the old heating system, a 72% efficient oil fired furnace, the Indow Windows proved to be economical and had a simple payback period of 9.0 years.

Two of the largest geomagnetic storms of the last decade were witnessed in 2015. On 17 March 2015, a coronal mass ejection-driven event occurred with a Dst (storm time ring current index) value reaching ā223 nT. On 22 June 2015 another strong storm (Dst reaching ā204 nT) was recorded. These two storms each produced almost total loss of radiation belt high-energy (E ā³ 1 MeV) electron fluxes. Following the dropouts of radiation belt fluxes there were complex and rather remarkable recoveries of the electrons extending up to nearly 10 MeV in kinetic energy. The energized outer zone electrons showed amoreĀ Ā» rich variety of pitch angle features including strong ābutterflyā distributions with deep minima in flux at Ī± = 90Ā°. However, despite strong driving of outer zone earthward radial diffusion in these storms, the previously reported āimpenetrable barrierā at L ā 2.8 was pushed inward, but not significantly breached, and no E ā³ 2.0 MeV electrons were seen to pass through the radiation belt slot region to reach the inner Van Allen zone. Altogether, these intense storms show a wealth of novel features of acceleration, transport, and loss that are demonstrated in the present detailed analysis.Ā«Ā less

For 12 months Vibrio cholerae and fecal coliforms were monitored along with 9 other water quality parameters at 12 sites in a rain forest watershed in Puerto Rico. Densities of V. cholerae and fecal coliforms were not significantly correlated even though the highest densities of both bacteria were found at a sewage outfall. High densities of V. cholerae were also found at pristine sites high in the watershed. V. cholerae and Escherichia coli were inoculated into membrane diffusion chambers, placed at two sites and monitored for 5 days on two different occasions. Two different direct count methods indicated that the density of E. coli and V. cholerae did not change significantly during the course of either study. Physiological activity, as measured by INT-reduction and relative nucleic acid composition declined for E. coli during the first 12 h then increased and remained variable during the remainder of the study. V. cholerae activity, as measured by relative nucleic acid concentrations, remained high and unchanged for the entire study. INT-reduction in V. cholerae declined initially but regained nearly all of it`s original activity within 48 h. This study suggests that V. cholerae is an indigenous organism in tropical freshwaters and that assays other than fecal coliforms or E. coli must be used for assessing public health risk in tropical waters.

Climate models with variable-resolution grids offer a computationally less expensive way to provide more detailed information at regional scales and increased accuracy for processes that cannot be resolved by a coarser grid. This study uses the Model for Prediction Across ScalesāAtmosphere (MPAS22A), consisting of a nonhydrostatic dynamical core and a subset of Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (ARW-WRF) model atmospheric physics that have been modified to include the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) cloud fraction parameterization, to investigate the potential benefits of using increased resolution in an tropical channel. The simulations are performed with an idealized aquaplanet configurationmoreĀ Ā» using two quasi-uniform grids, with 30 km and 240 km grid spacing, and two variable-resolution grids spanning the same grid spacing range; one with a narrow (20Ā°Sā20Ā°N) and one with a wide (30Ā°Sā30Ā°N) tropical channel refinement. Results show that increasing resolution in the tropics impacts both the tropical and extratropical circulation. Compared to the quasi-uniform coarse grid, the narrow-channel simulation exhibits stronger updrafts in the Ferrel cell as well as in the middle of the upward branch of the Hadley cell. The wider tropical channel has a closer correspondence to the 30 km quasi-uniform simulation. However, the total atmospheric poleward energy transports are similar in all simulations. The largest differences are in the low-level cloudiness. The refined channel simulations show improved tropical and extratropical precipitation relative to the global 240 km simulation when compared to the global 30 km simulation. All simulations have a single ITCZ. The relatively small differences in mean global and tropical precipitation rates among the simulations are a promising result, and the evidence points to the tropical channel being an effective method for avoiding the extraneous numerical artifacts seen in earlier

Rawinsonde and satellite data collected during the Tropical Cyclone Motion (TCM90) experiment, which was conducted during the summer of 1990 in the Western North pacific, is used to examine tropical cyclone steering motion and recurvature. TCM-90 composite results are compared with those found in a composite study using twenty-one years (1957-77) of Western North Pacific rawinsonde data during the same August-September period and also for all months during this same 21-year period. Both data sets indicate that the composite deep-layer-mean (850-300 mb) winds 5-7 deg from the cyclone center provide an important component of the steering flow for tropical cyclones. However, despite the rawinsonde data enhancements of the TCM-90 experiment, data limitations prevented an accurate observation of steering flow conditions at individual time periods or for the average of only 5-10 time periods when composited together.

A comparison of storm water runoff from the Y-12 Plant and selected employee vehicle parking lots to various industry data is provided in this document. This work is an outgrowth of and part of the continuing Non-Point Source Pollution Elimination Project that was initiated in the late 1980s. This project seeks to identify area pollution sources and remediate these areas through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act/Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (RCRA/CERCLA) process as managed by the Environmental Restoration Organization staff. This work is also driven by the Clean Water Act Section 402(p) which, in part, deals with establishing a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for storm water discharges. Storm water data from events occurring in 1988 through 1991 were analyzed in two reports: Feasibility Study for the Best Management Practices to Control Area Source Pollution Derived from Parking Lots at the DOE Y-12 Plant, September 1992, and Feasibility Study of Best Management Practices for Non-Point Source Pollution Control at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, February 1993. These data consisted of analysis of outfalls discharging to upper East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC) within the confines of the Y-12 Plant (see Appendixes D and E). These reports identified the major characteristics of concern as copper, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, nitrate (as nitrogen), zinc, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), fecal coliform, and aluminum. Specific sources of these contaminants were not identifiable because flows upstream of outfalls were not sampled. In general, many of these contaminants were a concern in many outfalls. Therefore, separate sampling exercises were executed to assist in identifying (or eliminating) specific suspected sources as areas of concern.

An investigation was made of storm damage during the winter of 1982-83 to the National Park Service's Stinson Beach Park. The investigation included an assessment of the storm damage, evaluation of physical processes contributing to the damage, subsequent beach recovery, and the feasibility of implementing shoreline protection measure to reduce future risk. During the winter of 1982-83, the beach was almost completely denuded of sand, wave overwash damaged the foredune, vegetation on the foredune was destroyed, and backshore flooding occurred. Two structures and a parking lot were endangered as the shoreline receded. Subsequent recovery of the park beach was rapid. By January 1982 sand had moved back onshore and a beach berm was beginning to reform. The foredune and dune vegetation received the only permanent damage. Four shoreline protection alternatives were evaluated. These include no action, dune development/enhancement, construction of a rock riprap revetment, and offshore installation of artificial seaweed. The first costs (estimated costs, excluding maintenance) range from about $90,000 to $475,000. The least-cost protection measure is riprap revetment, which protects the two structures and parking lot endangered during the 1982-83 winter storms. Construction of a foredune along the entire park beach is the highest cost protection measure. If no shore protection action measures are implemented, wave overwash of the foredune can be expected to occur on the average of every 2 to 3 years, and beach degradation, similar to that during the 1982-83 winter, can be expected to occur on the average of every 10 to 12 years. 12 references, 19 figures, 18 tables.

We report that iron-reducing bacteria are primary mediators of anaerobic carbon oxidation in upland tropical soils spanning a rainfall gradient (3500 - 5000 mm yr-1) in northeast Puerto Rico. The abundant rainfall and high net primary productivity of these tropical forests provide optimal soil habitat for iron-reducing and iron-oxidizing bacteria. Spatially and temporally dynamic redox conditions make iron-transforming microbial communities central to the belowground carbon cycle in these wet tropical forests. The exceedingly high abundance of iron-reducing bacteria (up to 1.2 x 10{sup 9} cells per gram soil) indicated that they possess extensive metabolic capacity to catalyze the reduction of iron minerals. In soils from the higher rainfall sites, measured rates of ferric iron reduction could account for up to 44 % of organic carbon oxidation. Iron reducers appeared to compete with methanogens when labile carbon availability was limited. We found large numbers of bacteria that oxidize reduced iron at sites with high rates of iron reduction and large numbers of iron-reducers. the coexistence of large populations of ironreducing and iron-oxidizing bacteria is evidence for rapid iron cycling between its reduced and oxidized states, and suggests that mutualistic interactions among these bacteria ultimately fuel organic carbon oxidation and inhibit CH4 production in these upland tropical forests.

Solar type I radio storms are long-lived radio emissions from the solar atmosphere. It is believed that these type I storms are produced by energetic electrons trapped within a closed magnetic structure and are characterized by a high ordinary (O) mode polarization. However, the microphysical nature of these emissions is still an open problem. Recently, Wu et al. found that Alfven waves (AWs) can significantly influence the basic physics of wave-particle interactions by modifying the resonant condition. Taking the effects of AWs into account, this work investigates electron cyclotron maser emission driven by power-law energetic electrons with a low-energy cutoff distribution, which are trapped in coronal loops by closed solar magnetic fields. The results show that the emission is dominated by the O mode. It is proposed that this O mode emission may possibly be responsible for solar type I radio storms.

Atmospheric aerosols impact weather and global general circulation by modifying cloud and precipitation processes, but the magnitude of cloud adjustment by aerosols remains poorly quantified and represents the largest uncertainty in estimated forcing of climate change. Here we assess the impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on the Pacific storm track using a multi-scale global aerosol-climate model (GCM). Simulations of two aerosol scenarios corresponding to the present day and pre-industrial conditions reveal long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols across the north Pacific and large resulting changes in the aerosol optical depth, cloud droplet number concentration, and cloud and ice water paths. Shortwave and longwave cloud radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere are changed by - 2.5 and + 1.3 W m-2, respectively, by emission changes from pre-industrial to present day, and an increased cloud-top height indicates invigorated mid-latitude cyclones. The overall increased precipitation and poleward heat transport reflect intensification of the Pacific storm track by anthropogenic aerosols. Hence, this work provides for the first time a global perspective of the impacts of Asian pollution outflows from GCMs. Furthermore, our results suggest that the multi-scale modeling framework is essential in producing the aerosol invigoration effect of deep convective clouds on the global scale.

Radiative heating profiles of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) cloud regimes (or weather states) were estimated by matching ISCCP observations with radiative properties derived from cloud radar and lidar measurements from the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites at Manus, Papua New Guinea, and Darwin, Australia. Focus was placed on the ISCCP cloud regimes containing the majority of upper level clouds in the tropics, i.e., mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), deep cumulonimbus with cirrus, mixed shallow and deep convection, and thin cirrus. At upper levels, these regimes have average maximum cloud occurrences ranging from 30% to 55% near 12 km with variations depending on the location and cloud regime. The resulting radiative heating profiles have maxima of approximately 1 K/day near 12 km, with equal heating contributions from the longwave and shortwave components. Upper level minima occur near 15 km, with the MCS regime showing the strongest cooling of 0.2 K/day and the thin cirrus showing no cooling. The gradient of upper level heating ranges from 0.2 to 0.4 K/(dayākm), with the most convectively active regimes (i.e., MCSs and deep cumulonimbus with cirrus) having the largest gradient. When the above heating profiles were applied to the 25-year ISCCP data set, the tropics-wide average profile has a radiative heating maximum of 0.45Kday-1 near 250 hPa. Column-integrated radiative heating of upper level cloud accounts for about 20% of the latent heating estimated by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR). The ISCCP radiative heating of tropical upper level cloud only slightly modifies the response of an idealized primitive equation model forced with the tropics-wide TRMM PR latent heating, which suggests that the impact of upper level cloud is more important to large-scale tropical circulation variations because of convective feedbacks rather than direct forcing by

In October 2010, the initial deployment of the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) took place at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, for the Storm Peak Laboratory Cloud Property Validation Experiment (STORMVEX). The objective of this field campaign was to obtain data about liquid and mixed-phase clouds using AMF2 instruments in conjunction with Storm Peak Laboratory (located at an elevation of 3220 meters on Mt. Werner), a cloud and aerosol research facility operated by the Desert Research Institute. STORMVEX datasets are freely available for viewing and download. Users are asked to register with the ARM Archive; the user's email address is used from that time forward as the login name.

Project Summary This project aimed to advance physical understanding of how and why the mid-latitude jet streams and storm tracks shift in intensity and latitude in response to changes in radiative forcing with an especial focus on rising greenhouse gases. The motivation, and much of the work, stemmed from the importance that these mean and transient atmospheric circulation systems have for hydroclimate. In particular drying and expansion of the subtropical dry zones has been related to a poleward shift of the mid-latitude jets and storm tracks. The work involved integrated assessment of observation and model projections as well as targeted model simulations.

The Sinclair and Dyes Inlet watershed is located on the west side of Puget Sound in Kitsap County, Washington, U.S.A. (Figure 1). Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS), U.S Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the Washington State Department of Ecology (WA-DOE), Kitsap County, City of Bremerton, City of Bainbridge Island, City of Port Orchard, and the Suquamish Tribe have joined in a cooperative effort to evaluate water-quality conditions the Sinclair-Dyes Inlet watershed and correct identified problems. A major focus of this project, known as Project ENVVEST, is to develop Water Clean-up (TMDL) Plans for constituents listed on the 303(d) list within the Sinclair and Dyes Inlet watershed. Segments within the Sinclair and Dyes Inlet watershed were listed on the State of Washingtonās 1998 303(d) due to fecal coliform contamination in marine water, metals in sediment and fish tissue, and organics in sediment and fish tissue (WA-DOE 2003). Stormwater loading was identified by ENVVEST as one potential source of sediment contamination, which lacked sufficient data for the contaminant mass balance calculations conducted for the watershed. This paper summarizes the contaminant concentrations in representative streams and outfalls discharging into Sinclair and Dyes Inlets during 18 storm events and wet/dry season baseflow conditions between November 2002 and May 2005. This paper serves as a portion of the report titled, āSurface and Stormwater Quality Assessment for Sinclair and Dyes Inlet, Washingtonā (Brandenberger et al. 2007).

The Department of Energy`s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program was created in 1989 as part of the US Global Change Research Program to improve the treatment of atmospheric radiative and cloud processes in computer models used to predict climate change. The overall goal of the ARM program is to develop and test parameterizations of important atmospheric processes, particularly cloud and radiative processes, for use in atmospheric models. This goal is being achieved through a combination of field measurements and modeling studies. Three primary locales were chosen for extensive field measurement facilities. These are the Southern Great Plains of the United States, the Tropical Western Pacific, and the North Slope of Alaska and Adjacent Arctic Ocean. This paper describes the ARM program in the Tropical Western Pacific locale.

Bird and bat fatalities from wind energy projects are an environmental and public concern, with post-construction fatalities sometimes differing from predictions. Siting facilities in this context can be a challenge. In March 2012 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines to assess collision fatalities and other potential impacts to species of concern and their habitats to aid in siting and management. The Guidelines recommend a tiered approach for assessing risk to wildlife, including a preliminary site evaluation that may evaluate alternative sites, a site characterization, field studies to document wildlife and habitat and to predict project impacts, post construction studies to estimate impacts, and other post construction studies. We applied the tiered assessment framework to a case study site, the Mount Storm Wind Energy Facility in Grant County, West Virginia, USA, to demonstrate the use of the USFWS assessment approach, to indicate how the use of a tiered assessment framework might have altered outputs of wildlife assessments previously undertaken for the case study site, and to assess benefits of a tiered ecological assessment framework for siting wind energy facilities. The conclusions of this tiered assessment for birds are similar to those of previous environmental assessments for Mount Storm. This assessment found risk to individual migratory tree-roosting bats that was not emphasized in previous preconstruction assessments. Differences compared to previous environmental assessments are more related to knowledge accrued in the past 10 years rather than to the tiered structure of the Guidelines. Benefits of the tiered assessment framework include good communication among stakeholders, clear decision points, a standard assessment trajectory, narrowing the list of species of concern, improving study protocols, promoting consideration of population-level effects, promoting adaptive management through post

The 1992 Oak Ridge Reservation Federal Facilities Compliance Agreement (FFCA) listed a number of mixed wastes, subject to land disposal restrictions (LDR), for which no treatment method had been identified, and required DOE to develop strategies for treatment and ultimate disposal of those wastes. This paper presents the results of a program to demonstrate that thermal desorption can remove both organics and mercury from two mixed wastes from the DOE Y-12 facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The first waste, the Y-12 Storm Sewer Sediments (SSSs) was a sediment generated from upgrades to the plant storm sewer system. This material contained over 4 percent mercury, 2 percent uranium and 350 mg/kg polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Leachable mercury exceeded toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and LDR criteria. The second waste, the Disposal Area Remedial Action (DARA) Soils, are contaminated with uranium, mercury and PCBs. This treatability study included bench-scale testing of a thermal desorption process. Results of the testing showed that, for the SSSs, total mercury could be reduced to 120 mg/kg by treatment at 600{degrees}C, which is at the high end of the temperature range for typical thermal desorption systems. Leachable TCLP mercury was less than 50 {mu}g/L and PCBs were below 2 mg/kg. Treatment of the DARA Soils at 450{degrees}C for 10 minutes resulted in residual PCBs of 0.6 to 3.0 mg/kg. This is too high (goal < 2mg/kg) and higher treatment temperatures are needed. The testing also provided information on the characteristics and quantities of residuals from the thermal desorption process.

Tropical Western Pacific The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility established its second research facility, the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) field measurement site, in 1996. This site consists of three research facilities: Manus (established in 1996), Nauru (1998), and Darwin (2002). The data collected at these sites help scientists better understand the role of the tropics in modulating or controlling significant aspects of the global climate and improve models

This document describes the contents of a digital database containing maximum potential aboveground biomass, land use, and estimated biomass and carbon data for 1980 and describes a methodology that may be used to extend this data set to 1990 and beyond based on population and land cover data. The biomass data and carbon estimates are for woody vegetation in Tropical Africa. These data were collected to reduce the uncertainty associated with the possible magnitude of historical releases of carbon from land use change. Tropical Africa is defined here as encompassing 22.7 x 10{sup 6} km{sup 2} of the earth`s land surface and includes those countries that for the most part are located in Tropical Africa. Countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and in southern Africa (i.e., Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Western Sahara) have maximum potential biomass and land cover information but do not have biomass or carbon estimate. The database was developed using the GRID module in the ARC/INFO{sup TM} geographic information system. Source data were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the U.S. National Geophysical Data Center, and a limited number of biomass-carbon density case studies. These data were used to derive the maximum potential and actual (ca. 1980) aboveground biomass-carbon values at regional and country levels. The land-use data provided were derived from a vegetation map originally produced for the FAO by the International Institute of Vegetation Mapping, Toulouse, France.

This data set has been derived from various ARM and external data sources with the main aim of providing modelers easy access to quality controlled data for model evaluation. The data set contains highly aggregated (in time) data from a number of sources at the tropical ARM sites at Manus and Nauru. It spans the years of 1999 and 2000. The data set contains information on downward surface radiation; surface meteorology, including precipitation; atmospheric water vapor and cloud liquid water content; hydrometeor cover as a function of height; and cloud cover, cloud optical thickness and cloud top pressure information provided by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP).

This data set has been derived from various ARM and external data sources with the main aim of providing modelers easy access to quality controlled data for model evaluation. The data set contains highly aggregated (in time) data from a number of sources at the tropical ARM sites at Manus and Nauru. It spans the years of 1999 and 2000. The data set contains information on downward surface radiation; surface meteorology, including precipitation; atmospheric water vapor and cloud liquid water content; hydrometeor cover as a function of height; and cloud cover, cloud optical thickness and cloud top pressure information provided by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP).

This research identified management practices of airfield and aircraft de/anti-icing constituents which may be implemented to deal with new storm water legislation. Storm water regulations require that deicing operations obtain a NPDES permit for discharges into storm water runoff which may mandate the use of Best Management Practices. An FAA civilian airport survey and a USAF survey were used, with a literature search, to identify practices of de/anti-icing constituents. Four major constituents are used-glycol, urea, calcium magnesium acetate, and sodium formate. Concerns of uncontrolled release of the constituents include high BOD rates, nitrate and nitrite enrichment, impaired aesthetic water quality, ammonia formation from the degradation of urea, and the toxicity of such chemicals to aquatic life. Several options that exist for managing the runoff of de/anti-icing constituents include alternative constituents such as potassium acetate; alternative application procedures such as centralized facilities and greater use of anti-icing operations; collection alternatives using porous surface materials, drainage systems, and holding tanks; and treatment alternatives such as a mobile recovery unit to recycle deicing fluids for re-use.... Aircraft, Runways, Deicing systems, Deicing materials, Runoff, Water pollution, Urea, Glycols, Biochemical oxygen demand.

We use far-infrared (20-200 Ī¼m) data from the Composite Infrared Spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft to determine the zonal-mean temperature and hydrogen para-fraction in Saturn's upper troposphere from observations taken before and after the large northern hemisphere storm in 2010-2011. During the storm, zonal mean temperatures in the latitude band between approximately 25Ā°N and 45Ā°N (planetographic latitude) increased by about 3 K, while the zonal mean hydrogen para-fraction decreased by about 0.04 over the same latitudes, at pressures greater than about 300 mbar. These changes occurred over the same latitude range as the disturbed cloud band seen in visible images. The observations are consistent with low para-fraction gas being brought up from the level of the water cloud by the strong convective plume associated with the storm, while being heated by condensation of water vapor, and then advected zonally by the winds near the plume tops in the upper troposphere.

The power plant utilizes only the steam portion of the HGP-A well production. There are approximately 50,000 pounds per hour of 360/sup 0/F water produced (approximately 10 million Btu per hour) and the water is currently not used and is considered a waste. This tremendous resource could very well be used in applications such as food processing, food dehydration and other industrial processing that requires low-grade heat. One of the applications is examined, namely the drying of tropical fruits particularly the papaya. The papaya was chosen for the obvious reason that it is the biggest crop of all fruits produced on the Big Island. A conceptual design of a pilot plant facility capable of processing 1000 pounds of raw papaya per day is included. This facility is designed to provide a geothermally heated dryer to dehydrate papayas or other tropical fruits available on an experimental basis to obtain data such as drying time, optimum drying temperature, etc.

Water and shellfish samples collected from estuaries, mangroves, and beaches along the coast of Puerto Rico were examined for Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. An array of water quality parameters were also measured simultaneous with bacteria sampling. Both species of vibrio were associated with estuary and mangrove locations, and neither was isolated from sandy beaches. Densities of V. vulnificus were negatively correlated with salinity, 10--15 ppt being optimal. V. parahaemolyticus was isolated from sites with salinities between 20 and 35 ppt, the highest densities occurring at 20 ppt. Densities of Vibrio spp. and V. parahaemolyticus for a tropical estuary surpassed those reported for temperate estuaries by several orders of magnitude. Both densities of total Vibrio spp. and V. parahaemolyticus in the water were directly related to densities of fecal coliforms, unlike V. vulnificus. The incidence of ONPG(+) strains among sucrose({minus}) Vibrio spp. served as an indicator of the frequency of V. vulnificus in this group. More than 63% of the V. vulnificus isolated were pathogenic. V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus occupy clearly separate niches within the tropical estuarine-marine ecosystem.

Thermal analysis is being undertaken at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in support of inspections of selected storage modules at various locations around the United States, as part of the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Research and Development. This report documents pre-inspection predictions of temperatures for two modules at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant ISFSI identified as candidates for inspection. These are HI-STORM 100 modules of a site-specific design for storing PWR 17x17 fuel in MPC-32 canisters. The temperature predictions reported in this document were obtained with detailed COBRA-SFS models of these storage systems, with the following boundary conditions and assumptions. ā¢ storage module overpack configuration based on FSAR documentation of HI-STORM100S-218, Version B; due to unavailability of site-specific design data for Diablo Canyon ISFSI modules ā¢ Individual assembly and total decay heat loadings for each canister, based on at-loading values provided by PG&E, āagedā to time of inspection using ORIGEN modeling o Special Note: there is an inherent conservatism of unquantified magnitude ā informally estimated as up to approximately 20% -- in the utility-supplied values for at-loading assembly decay heat values ā¢ Axial decay heat distributions based on a bounding generic profile for PWR fuel. ā¢ Axial location of beginning of fuel assumed same as WE 17x17 OFA fuel, due to unavailability of specific data for WE17x17 STD and WE 17x17 Vantage 5 fuel designs ā¢ Ambient conditions of still air at 50Ā°F (10Ā°C) assumed for base-case evaluations o Wind conditions at the Diablo Canyon site are unquantified, due to unavailability of site meteorological data o additional still-air evaluations performed at 70Ā°F (21Ā°C), 60Ā°F (16Ā°C), and 40Ā°F (4Ā°C), to cover a range of possible conditions at the time of the inspection. (Calculations were also performed at

The northern coasts of the Gulf of Mexico are highly vulnerable to the direct threats of climate change, such as hurricane-induced storm surge, and such risks can be potentially exacerbated by land subsidence and global sea level rise. This paper presents an application of a coastal storm surge model to study the coastal inundation process induced by tide and storm surge, and its response to the effects of land subsidence and sea level rise in the northern Gulf coast. An unstructured-grid Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model was used to simulate tides and hurricane-induced storm surges in the Gulf of Mexico. Simulated distributions of co-amplitude and co-phase of semi-diurnal and diurnal tides are in good agreement with previous modeling studies. The storm surges induced by four historical hurricanes (Rita, Katrina, Ivan and Dolly) were simulated and compared to observed water levels at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tide stations. Effects of coastal subsidence and future global sea level rise on coastal inundation in the Louisiana coast were evaluated using a parameter āchange of inundation depthā through sensitivity simulations that were based on a projected future subsidence scenario and 1-m global sea level rise by the end of the century. Model results suggested that hurricane-induced storm surge height and coastal inundation could be exacerbated by future global sea level rise and subsidence, and that responses of storm surge and coastal inundation to the effects of sea level rise and subsidence are highly nonlinear and vary on temporal and spatial scales.

Climate models with variable-resolution grids offer a computationally less expensive way to provide more detailed information at regional scales and increased accuracy for processes that cannot be resolved by a coarser grid. This study uses the Model for Prediction Across ScalesāAtmosphere (MPAS22A), consisting of a nonhydrostatic dynamical core and a subset of Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (ARW-WRF) model atmospheric physics that have been modified to include the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) cloud fraction parameterization, to investigate the potential benefits of using increased resolution in an tropical channel. The simulations are performed with an idealized aquaplanet configuration using two quasi-uniform grids, with 30 km and 240 km grid spacing, and two variable-resolution grids spanning the same grid spacing range; one with a narrow (20Ā°Sā20Ā°N) and one with a wide (30Ā°Sā30Ā°N) tropical channel refinement. Results show that increasing resolution in the tropics impacts both the tropical and extratropical circulation. Compared to the quasi-uniform coarse grid, the narrow-channel simulation exhibits stronger updrafts in the Ferrel cell as well as in the middle of the upward branch of the Hadley cell. The wider tropical channel has a closer correspondence to the 30 km quasi-uniform simulation. However, the total atmospheric poleward energy transports are similar in all simulations. The largest differences are in the low-level cloudiness. The refined channel simulations show improved tropical and extratropical precipitation relative to the global 240 km simulation when compared to the global 30 km simulation. All simulations have a single ITCZ. Furthermore, the relatively small differences in mean global and tropical precipitation rates among the simulations are a promising result, and the evidence points to the tropical channel being an effective method for avoiding the extraneous numerical artifacts seen in earlier

Climate models with variable-resolution grids offer a computationally less expensive way to provide more detailed information at regional scales and increased accuracy for processes that cannot be resolved by a coarser grid. This study uses the Model for Prediction Across ScalesāAtmosphere (MPAS22A), consisting of a nonhydrostatic dynamical core and a subset of Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (ARW-WRF) model atmospheric physics that have been modified to include the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) cloud fraction parameterization, to investigate the potential benefits of using increased resolution in an tropical channel. The simulations are performed with an idealized aquaplanet configuration using two quasi-uniform grids, with 30 km and 240 km grid spacing, and two variable-resolution grids spanning the same grid spacing range; one with a narrow (20Ā°Sā20Ā°N) and one with a wide (30Ā°Sā30Ā°N) tropical channel refinement. Results show that increasing resolution in the tropics impacts both the tropical and extratropical circulation. Compared to the quasi-uniform coarse grid, the narrow-channel simulation exhibits stronger updrafts in the Ferrel cell as well as in the middle of the upward branch of the Hadley cell. The wider tropical channel has a closer correspondence to the 30 km quasi-uniform simulation. However, the total atmospheric poleward energy transports are similar in all simulations. The largest differences are in the low-level cloudiness. The refined channel simulations show improved tropical and extratropical precipitation relative to the global 240 km simulation when compared to the global 30 km simulation. All simulations have a single ITCZ. The relatively small differences in mean global and tropical precipitation rates among the simulations are a promising result, and the evidence points to the tropical channel being an effective method for avoiding the extraneous numerical artifacts seen in earlier studies that

The idea of using a muon storage ring to produce a high-energy ({approx_equal} 50 GeV) neutrino beam for experiments was first discussed by Koshkarev in 1974. A detailed description of a muon storage ring for neutrino oscillation experiments was first produced by Neuffer in 1980. In his paper, Neuffer studied muon decay rings with E{sub {mu}} of 8, 4.5 and 1.5 GeV. With his 4.5 GeV ring design, he achieved a figure of merit of {approx_equal} 6 x 10{sup 9} useful neutrinos per 3 x 10{sup 13} protons on target. The facility we describe here ({nu}STORM) is essentially the same facility proposed in 1980 and would utilize a 3-4 GeV/c muon storage ring to study eV-scale oscillation physics and, in addition, could add significantly to our understanding of {nu}{sub e} and {nu}{sub {mu}} cross sections. In particular the facility can: (1) address the large {Delta}m{sup 2} oscillation regime and make a major contribution to the study of sterile neutrinos, (2) make precision {nu}{sub e} and {bar {nu}}{sub e} cross-section measurements, (3) provide a technology ({mu} decay ring) test demonstration and {mu} beam diagnostics test bed, and (4) provide a precisely understood {nu} beam for detector studies. The facility is the simplest implementation of the Neutrino Factory concept. In our case, 60 GeV/c protons are used to produce pions off a conventional solid target. The pions are collected with a focusing device (horn or lithium lens) and are then transported to, and injected into, a storage ring. The pions that decay in the first straight of the ring can yield a muon that is captured in the ring. The circulating muons then subsequently decay into electrons and neutrinos. We are starting with a storage ring design that is optimized for 3.8 GeV/c muon momentum. This momentum was selected to maximize the physics reach for both oscillation and the cross section physics. See Fig. 1 for a schematic of the facility.

The next big frontier for oil and gas development will be the humid tropics, where more than 80% of exploration and production is expected to take place in the next decade. The tropical areas targeted by these operations not only hold large stores of oil and gas, but are also frequently undeveloped and remote, located in or near important and sensitive ecosystems. Within the tropics the most heavily targeted area is the Latin American Neotropics (New World tropics), which include South America, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. A regionwide move toward privatization of state oil industries, growing liberalization of markets, and contractual incentives for foreign investment make this region a prime target for oil exploration and development. Proper evaluation of available technologies and planning will help determine how and where mitigation efforts should be directed to prevent and control environmental impacts.

Strong differences occur in daytime versus nighttime (DVN) net radiative cooling in clear versus cloudy areas of the tropical atmosphere. Daytime average cooling is approximately -0.7{degrees}C/day, whereas nighttime net tropospheric cooling rates are about -1.5{degrees}C/day, an approximately two-to-one difference. The comparatively strong nocturnal cooling in clear areas gives rise to a diurnally varying vertical circulation and horizontal convergence cycle. Various manifestations of this cyclic process include the observed early morning heavy rainfall maxima over the tropical oceans. The radiatively driven DVN circulation appears to strongly modulate the resulting diurnal cycle of intense convection which creates the highest, coldest cloudiness over maritime tropical areas and is likely a fundamental mechanism governing both small and large scale dynamics over much of the tropical environment.

The tropics are regions of strong ocean-atmosphere interaction on seasonal and interannual timescales, so a good representation of observed tropical behavior is a desirable objective for coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models (CGCMs). To broaden and update previous assessments (Mechoso et al. 1995, Neelin et al. 1992), two complementary projects were initiated by the CLIVAR Working Group on Seasonal to Interannual Prediction (WGSIP): the El Nino Simulation Intercomparison Project (ENSIP, by Mojib Latif) and STOIC (Study of Tropical Oceans In Coupled models). The aim was to compare models against observations to identify common weaknesses and strengths. Results from ENSIP concentrating on the equatorial Pacific have been described by Latif et al. (2000), hereafter ENSIP2000. A detailed report on STOIC is available via anonymous ftp at email.meto.gov.uk/pub/cr/ ''stoic'' and is summarized in Davey et al. (2000). The STOIC analyses extend beyond the equatorial Pacific, to examine behavior in all three tropical ocean regions.

Lignin is often the most difficult portion of plant biomass to degrade, with fungi generally thought to dominate during late stage decomposition. Lignin in feedstock plant material represents a barrier to more efficient plant biomass conversion and can also hinder enzymatic access to cellulose, which is critical for biofuels production. Tropical rain forest soils in Puerto Rico are characterized by frequent anoxic conditions and fluctuating redox, suggesting the presence of lignin-degrading organisms and mechanisms that are different from known fungal decomposers and oxygen-dependent enzyme activities. We explored microbial lignin-degraders by burying bio-traps containing lignin-amended and unamended biosep beads in the soil for 1, 4, 13 and 30 weeks. At each time point, phenol oxidase and peroxidase enzyme activity was found to be elevated in the lignin-amended versus the unamended beads, while cellulolytic enzyme activities were significantly depressed in lignin-amended beads. Quantitative PCR of bacterial communities showed more bacterial colonization in the lignin-amended compared to the unamended beads after one and four weeks, suggesting that the lignin supported increased bacterial abundance. The microbial community was analyzed by small subunit 16S ribosomal RNA genes using microarray (PhyloChip) and by high-throughput amplicon pyrosequencing based on universal primers targeting bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic communities. Community trends were significantly affected by time and the presence of lignin on the beads. Lignin-amended beads have higher relative abundances of representatives from the phyla Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria compared to unamended beads. This study suggests that in low and fluctuating redox soils, bacteria could play a role in anaerobic lignin decomposition.

Lignin is often the most difficult portion of plant biomass to degrade, with fungi generally thought to dominate during late stage decomposition. Lignin in feedstock plant material represents a barrier to more efficient plant biomass conversion and can also hinder enzymatic access to cellulose, which is critical for biofuels production. Tropical rain forest soils in Puerto Rico are characterized by frequent anoxic conditions and fluctuating redox, suggesting the presence of lignin-degrading organisms and mechanisms that are different from known fungal decomposers and oxygen-dependent enzyme activities. We explored microbial lignin-degraders by burying bio-traps containing lignin-amended and unamended biosep beads in the soil for 1, 4, 13 and 30 weeks. At each time point, phenol oxidase and peroxidase enzyme activity was found to be elevated in the lignin-amended versus the unamended beads, while cellulolytic enzyme activities were significantly depressed in lignin-amended beads. Quantitative PCR of bacterial communities showed more bacterial colonization in the lignin-amended compared to the unamended beads after one and four weeks, suggesting that the lignin supported increased bacterial abundance. The microbial community was analyzed by small subunit 16S ribosomal RNA genes using microarray (PhyloChip) and by high-throughput amplicon pyrosequencing based on universal primers targeting bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic communities. Community trends were significantly affected by time and the presence of lignin on the beads. Lignin-amended beads have higher relative abundances of representatives from the phyla Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria compared to unamended beads. This study suggests that in low and fluctuating redox soils, bacteria could play a role in anaerobic lignin decomposition.

By applying a cloud tracking algorithm to tropical convective systems simulated by a regional high resolution model, the study documents environmental conditions before and after convective systems are initiated over ocean and land by following them during their lifetime. The comparative roles of various environmental fields in affecting the lifetime of convection are also quantified. The statistics of lifetime, maximum area, propagation speed and direction of the simulated deep convection agrees well with geostationary satellite observations. Over ocean, convective systems enhance surface fluxes through the associated wind gusts as well as cooling and drying of the boundary layer. A significant relationship is found between the mean surface fluxes during their lifetime and the longevity of the systems which in turn is related to the initial intensity of the moist updraft and to a lesser extent upper level shear. Over land, on the other hand, convective activity suppresses surface fluxes through cloud cover and the lifetime of convection is related to the upper level shear during their lifetime and strength of the heat fluxes several hours before the initiation of convection. For systems of equal lifetime, those over land are significantly more intense than those over ocean especially during early stages of their lifetime.

This report describes process, assumptions, and modeling results produced in support of the Emerging Technologies Low-e Storm Windows Task 5.3: Create a Database of U.S. Climate-Based Analysis for Low-E Storm Windows. The scope of the overall effort is to develop a database of energy savings and cost effectiveness of low-E storm windows in residential homes across a broad range of U.S. climates using the National Energy Audit Tool (NEAT) and RESFEN model calculations. This report includes a summary of the results, NEAT and RESFEN background, methodology, and input assumptions, and an appendix with detailed results and assumptions by cliamte zone. Both sets of calculation results will be made publicly available through the Building America Solution Center.

The tall perennial tropical grasses, elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.), sugarcane and energycane (Saccharum sp.) and erianthus (Erianthus arundenaceum (Retz) Jesw.) have given very high oven dry biomass yields in Florida and the warm Lower South USA. No good complete analyses of the chemical composition of these grasses for planning potential energy use was available. We sampled treatments of several tall grass demonstrations and experiments containing high-biomass yielding genotypes of the above tall grass crops at several locations in Florida over the two growing seasons, 1992 and 1993. These samples were analyzed for crude protein, NDF, ADF, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and IVDMD or IVOMD. The analysis for the above constituents are reported, along with biomass yields where available, for the tall grass accessions in the various demonstrations and experiments. Particular attention is given to values obtained from the high-yielding tall grasses grown on phosphatic clays in Polk County, FL, the area targeted by a NREL grant to help commercialize bioenergy use from these crops.

Two century-scale time series in northern Bolivia constrain the ages of abrupt changes in the physical, geochemical, and biological characteristics of sediments obtained from lakes that formed during deglaciation from the late Pleistocene glacial maximum. The watersheds of Laguna Viscachani (16{degrees}12`S, 68{degrees}07`W, 3780m) and Lago Taypi Chaka Kkota (16{degrees}13`S, 68{degrees}21`W, 4300m), located on the eastern and western slopes of the Cordillera Real, respectively, contain small cirque glaciers. A high-resolution chronology of the lake sediments is provided by 23 AMS {sup 14}C dates of discrete macro-fossils. Late Pleistocene glaciers retreated rapidly, exposing the lake basins between 10,700 and 9700 {sup 14}C yr B.P. The sedimentary facies suggest that after 8900 {sup 14}C B.P. glaciers were absent from the watersheds and remained so during the middle Holocene. An increase in the precipitation-evaporation balance is indicated above unconformities dated to about 2300 {sup 14}C yr B.P. in both Lago Taypi Chaka Kkota and Laguna Viscachani. An abrupt increase in sediment accumulation rated after 1400 {sup 14}C yr B.P. signals the onset of Neoglaciation. A possible link exists between the observed millennial-scale shifts in the regional precipitation- evaporation balance and seasonal shifts in tropical insolation.

Dr. E. Storms has published a Letter [1] in which he argues that in a sequence of recent papers [2-5], the apparent excess heat signal claimed by Dr. Shanahan to arise from a calibration constant shift is actually true excess heat. In particular he proposes that the mechanisms proposed that foster the proposed calibration constant shifts [3,5] cannot occur as postulated for several reasons. As well, he proposes Shanahan has ignored the extant data proving this. Because this Letter may lend unwarranted support to acceptance of cold fusion claims, these erroneous arguments used by Storms need to be answered.

This paper summarizes studies of carbon mitigation potential (MP) and costs of forestry options in seven developing countries with a focus on the role of agroforestry. A common methodological approach known as comprehensive mitigation assessment process (COMAP) was used in each study to estimate the potential and costs between 2000 and 2030. The approach requires the projection of baseline and mitigation land-use scenarios derived from the demand for forest products and forestland for other uses such as agriculture and pasture. By using data on estimated carbon sequestration, emission avoidance, costs and benefits, the model enables one to estimate cost effectiveness indicators based on monetary benefit per t C, as well as estimates of total mitigation costs and potential when the activities are implemented at equilibrium level. The results show that about half the MP of 6.9 Gt C (an average of 223 Mt C per year) between 2000 and 2030 in the seven countries could be achieved at a negative cost, and the other half at costs not exceeding $100 per t C. Negative cost indicates that non-carbon revenue is sufficient to offset direct costs of about half of the options. The agroforestry options analyzed bear a significant proportion of the potential at medium to low cost per t C when compared to other options. The role of agroforestry in these countries varied between 6% and 21% of the MP, though the options are much more cost effective than most due to the low wage or opportunity cost of rural labor. Agroforestry options are attractive due to the large number of people and potential area currently engaged in agriculture, but they pose unique challenges for carbon and cost accounting due to the dispersed nature of agricultural activities in the tropics, as well as specific difficulties arising from requirements for monitoring, verification, leakage assessment and the establishment of credible baselines.

This paper summarizes studies of carbon mitigation potential (MP) and costs of forestry options in seven developing countries with a focus on the role of agroforestry. A common methodological approach known as comprehensive mitigation assessment process (COMAP) was used in each study to estimate the potential and costs between 2000 and 2030. The approach requires the projection of baseline and mitigation land-use scenarios derived from the demand for forest products and forestland for other uses such as agriculture and pasture. By using data on estimated carbon sequestration, emission avoidance, costs and benefits, the model enables one to estimate cost effectiveness indicators based on monetary benefit per t C, as well as estimates of total mitigation costs and potential when the activities are implemented at equilibrium level. The results show that about half the MP of 6.9 Gt C (an average of 223 Mt C per year) between 2000 and 2030 in the seven countries could be achieved at a negative cost, and the other half at costs not exceeding $100 per t C. Negative cost indicates that non-carbon revenue is sufficient to offset direct costs of about half of the options. The agroforestry options analyzed bear a significant proportion of the potential at medium to low cost per t C when compared to other options. The role of agroforestry in these countries varied between 6% and 21% of the MP, though the options are much more cost effective than most due to the low wage or opportunity cost of rural labor. Agroforestry options are attractive due to the large number of people and potential area currently engaged in agriculture, but they pose unique challenges for carbon and cost accounting due to the dispersed nature of agricultural activities in the tropics, as well as specific difficulties arising from requirements for monitoring, verification, leakage assessment and the establishment of credible baselines.

Climate models with variable-resolution grids offer a computationally less expensive way to provide more detailed information at regional scales and increased accuracy for processes that cannot be resolved by a coarser grid. This study uses the Model for Prediction Across ScalesāAtmosphere (MPAS22A), consisting of a nonhydrostatic dynamical core and a subset of Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (ARW-WRF) model atmospheric physics that have been modified to include the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) cloud fraction parameterization, to investigate the potential benefits of using increased resolution in an tropical channel. The simulations are performed with an idealized aquaplanet configurationmoreĀ Ā» using two quasi-uniform grids, with 30 km and 240 km grid spacing, and two variable-resolution grids spanning the same grid spacing range; one with a narrow (20Ā°Sā20Ā°N) and one with a wide (30Ā°Sā30Ā°N) tropical channel refinement. Results show that increasing resolution in the tropics impacts both the tropical and extratropical circulation. Compared to the quasi-uniform coarse grid, the narrow-channel simulation exhibits stronger updrafts in the Ferrel cell as well as in the middle of the upward branch of the Hadley cell. The wider tropical channel has a closer correspondence to the 30 km quasi-uniform simulation. However, the total atmospheric poleward energy transports are similar in all simulations. The largest differences are in the low-level cloudiness. The refined channel simulations show improved tropical and extratropical precipitation relative to the global 240 km simulation when compared to the global 30 km simulation. All simulations have a single ITCZ. Furthermore, the relatively small differences in mean global and tropical precipitation rates among the simulations are a promising result, and the evidence points to the tropical channel being an effective method for avoiding the extraneous numerical artifacts seen in

Research on human impacts or natural processes that operate over broad geographic areas must explicitly address issues of scale and spatial heterogeneity. While the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and Mexico have been occupied and used to meet human needs for thousands of years, traditional forest management systems are currently being transformed by rapid and far-reaching demographic, political, economic, and environmental changes. The dynamics of population growth, migration into the remaining frontiers, and responses to national and international market forces result in a demand for land to produce food and fiber. These results illustrate some of the mechanisms that drive current land use changes, especially in the tropical forest frontiers. By linking the outcome of individual land use decisions and measures of landscape fragmentation and change, the aggregated results shows the hierarchy of temporal and spatial events that in summation result in global changes to the most complex and sensitive biome -- tropical forests. By quantifying the spatial and temporal patterns of tropical forest change, researchers can assist policy makers by showing how landscape systems in these tropical forests are controlled by physical, biological, social, and economic parameters.

The Japanese U.S. Tropical Ocean Study (JUSTOS) cruise on the R/V KAIYO in the Tropical Western Pacific Ocean was a collaborative effort with participants from the Japanese Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and Brookhaven National Laboratory BNL. This report is a summary of the instruments, measurements, and initial analysis of the BNL portion of the cruise only. It includes a brief description of the instrument system, calibration procedures, problems and resolutions, data collection, processing and data file descriptions. This is a working document, which is meant to provide both a good description of the work and as much information as possible in one place for future analysis.

ProductsA Model Evaluation Data Set for the Tropical ARM Sites ARM Data Discovery Browse Data Comments? We would love to hear from you! Send us a note below or call us at 1-888-ARM-DATA. Send PI Product : A Model Evaluation Data Set for the Tropical ARM Sites This data set has been derived from various ARM and external data sources with the main aim of providing modelers easy access to quality controlled data for model evaluation. The data set contains highly aggregated (in time) data from a

The cirrus clouds play an important role in the radiation budget of the earth's atmospheric system and are important to characterize their vertical structure and optical properties. LIDAR measurements are obtained from the tropical station Gadanki (13.5{sup 0} N, 79.2{sup 0} E), India, and meteorological indicators derived from Radiosonde data. Most of the cirrus clouds are observed near to the tropopause, which substantiates the strength of the tropical convective processes. The height and temperature dependencies of cloud height, optical depth, and depolarization ratio were investigated. Cirrus observations made using CALIPSO satellite are compared with lidar data for systematic statistical study of cirrus climatology.

The overall objective of this project is to use the ARM observational data to improve our understanding of cloud-radiation effects in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL), which is crucial for improving the simulation and prediction of climate and climate change. In last four and half years, we have been concentrating on (i) performing the comparison of the ice cloud properties from the ground-based lidar observations with those from the satellite CALIPSO lidar observations at the ARM TWP sites; (ii) analyzing TTL cirrus and its relation to the tropical planetary waves; (iii) calculating the radiative heating rates using retrieved cloud microphysical properties by combining the ground-based lidar and radar observations at the ARM TWP sites and comparing the results with those using cloud properties retrieved from CloudSat and CALIPSO observations; (iv) comparing macrophysical properties of tropical cirrus clouds from the CALIPSO satellite and from ground-based micropulse and Raman lidar observations; (v) improving the parameterization of optical properties of cirrus clouds with small effective ice particle sizes; and (vi) evaluating the enhanced maximum warming in the tropical upper troposphere simulated by the GCMs. The main results of our research efforts are reported in the 12 referred journal publications that acknowledge the DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-09ER64769.

The project utilizes multiple atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) to examine the regional climate sensitivity to tropical sea surface temperature forcing through a series of ensemble experiments. The overall goal for this work is to use the global teleconnection operator (GTO) as a metric to assess the impact of model structural differences on the uncertainties in regional climate variability.

Activated on Limited Basis CARLSBAD, N.M., 12/29/2015 1:26 PM (MT) - At approximately, 9 a.m. Mountain Time, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Emergency Operations Center (EOC) announced a Level 1 activation to support coordination of resources needed to safely restore normal operations at WIPP due to the recent severe snow storm in southeast New Mexico. The icy and snow packed road conditions have made road conditions difficult for the workforce to commute to the WIPP site. Resources are

This interim report summarizes the stormwater monitoring conducted for non-dry dock outfalls in both the confined industrial area and the residential areas of Naval Base Kitsap within the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (referred to as the Shipyard). This includes the collection, analyses, and descriptive statistics for stormwater sampling conducted from November 2010 through April 2011. Seven stormwater basins within the Shipyard were sampled during at least three storm events to characterize non-dry dock stormwater discharges at selected stormwater drains located within the facility. This serves as the Phase I component of the project and Phase II is planned for the 2011-2012 storm season. These data will assist the Navy, USEPA, Ecology and other stakeholders in understanding the nature and condition of stormwater discharges from the Shipyard and inform the permitting process for new outfall discharges. The data from Phase I was compiled with current stormwater data available from the Shipyard, Sinclair/Dyes Inlet watershed, and Puget Sound in order to support technical investigations for the Draft NPDES permit. The permit would require storm event sampling at selected stormwater drains located within the Shipyard. However, the data must be considered on multiple scales to truly understand potential impairments to beneficial uses within Sinclair and Dyes Inlets.

The hydrologic impact or sensitivities of three medium-sized catchments to global warming, one of tropical climate in Northern Thailand and two of temperate climate in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins of California, were investigated.

The impact of tropical cyclones on surface chlorophyll concentration is assessed in the western subtropical North Atlantic Ocean during 19982011. Previous studies in this area focused on individual cyclones and gave mixed results regarding the importance of tropical cyclone-induced mixing for changes in surface chlorophyll. Using a more integrated and comprehensive approach that includes quantification of cyclone-induced changes in mixed layer depth, here it is shown that accumulated cyclone energy explains 22% of the interannual variability in seasonally-averaged (JuneNovember) chlorophyll concentration in the western subtropical North Atlantic, after removing the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The variance explained by tropical cyclones is thus about 70% of that explained by the NAO, which has well-known impacts in this region. It is therefore likely that tropical cyclones contribute significantly to interannual variations of primary productivity in the western subtropical North Atlantic during the hurricane season.

Instruments to measure atmospheric radiation and ancillary meteorological variables will be set up on Manus Island as the first site of the tropical western pacific (TWP) locale of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) program. Manus is in the {open_quotes}warm pool{close_quotes} region of the TWP. This region is critical in establishing global atmospheric circulation patterns and is a primary energy source for the Hadley and Walker cells. The myriad islands and enclosed seas in the immediate vicinity of Manus have been referred to as the {open_quotes}maritime continent{close_quotes}, which has the deepest convective activity in the world. Manus is in a region having a global impact on climate and where island effects on clouds are likely to be important. In this preliminary analysis we have sought evidence of island effects in the cloud fields around Manus and have studied the variability of the diurnal cycles of cloud cover over Manus and over other islands and areas of open sea in the region.

The Department of Energy`s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program was created in 1989 as part of the US Global Change Research Program to improve the treatment of atmospheric radiative and cloud processes in computer models used to predict climate change. The overall goal of the ARM program is to develop and test parameterizations of important atmospheric processes, particularly cloud and radiative processes, for use in atmospheric models. This goal is being achieved through a combination of field measurements and modeling studies. Three primary locales were chosen for extensive field measurement facilities. These are the Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the United States, the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP), and the North Slope of Alaska and Adjacent Arctic Ocean (NSA/AAO). This Site Science Mission Plan [RPT(TWP)-010.000] describes the ARM program in the Tropical Western Pacific locale.

comparisons with C-Pol and satellite observations Observations of tropical clouds from the upgraded MMCR at Darwin and comparisons with C-Pol and satellite observations Jensen, Michael Brookhaven National Laboratory Kollias, Pavlos Brookhaven National Laboratory Vogelmann, Andrew Brookhaven National Laboratory Mather, James Pacific Northwest National Laboratory May, Peter Bureau or Meteorology Research Centre Category: Instruments The upgrade of the processor for the millimeter cloud radar

Remote Sensing Laboratory Department of Energy's chief risk officer visits Nevada National Security Site Earlier this month, Associate Deputy Secretary John MacWilliams visited the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in his role as Chief Risk Officer for the Department of Energy. He reviewed the various ways the NNSS contributes to the department's and NNSA's missions, including radiological

In the tropical Western Pacific (TWP) Ocean, the clouds and the cloud-radiation feedback can only be understood in the context of air/sea interactions and the ocean mixed layer. Considerable interest has been shown in attempting to explain why sea surface temperature (SST) rarely rises above 30{degrees}C, and gradients of the SST. For the most part, observational studies that address this issue have been conducted using monthly cloud and SST data, and the focus has been on intraseasonal and interannual time scales. For the unstable tropical atmosphere, using monthly averaged data misses a key feedback between clouds and SST that occurs on the cloud-SST coupling time scale, which was estimated to be 3-6 days for the unstable tropical atmosphere. This time scale is the time needed for a change in cloud properties, due to the change of ocean surface evaporation caused by SST variation, to feed back to the SST variation, to feed back to the SST through its effect on the surface heat flux. This paper addresses the relationship between clouds, surface radiation flux and SST of the TWP ocean over the diurnal cycle.

This document describes the contents of a digital database containing maximum potential aboveground biomass, land use, and estimated biomass and carbon data for 1980. The biomass data and carbon estimates are associated with woody vegetation in Tropical Africa. These data were collected to reduce the uncertainty associated with estimating historical releases of carbon from land use change. Tropical Africa is defined here as encompassing 22.7 x 10{sup 6} km{sup 2} of the earth's land surface and is comprised of countries that are located in tropical Africa (Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Zaire, and Zambia). The database was developed using the GRID module in the ARC/INFO{trademark} geographic information system. Source data were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the U.S. National Geophysical Data Center, and a limited number of biomass-carbon density case studies. These data were used to derive the maximum potential and actual (ca. 1980) aboveground biomass values at regional and country levels. The land-use data provided were derived from a vegetation map originally produced for the FAO by the International Institute of Vegetation Mapping, Toulouse, France.

Three semi-autonomous atmospheric sensing systems were installed in the tropical western Pacific region. The first of these Atmospheric Radiation and Cloud Stations (ARCS) began operation in 1996. Each ARCS is configured as a system-of-systems since it comprises an ensemble of independent instrument systems. The ARCS collect, process, and transmit large volumes of cloud, solar and thermal radiation, and meteorological data to support climate studies and climate-modeling improvements as part of the U.S Department of Energys Atmospheric and Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. Data from these tropical ARCS stations have been used for satellite ground-truth data comparisons and validations, including comparisons for MTI and AQUA satellite data. Our experiences with these systems in the tropics led to modifications in their design. An ongoing international logistics effort is required to keep gigabytes per day of quality-assured data flowing to the ARM programs archives. Design criteria, performance, communications methods, and the day-to-day logistics required to support long-term operations of ground-based remote atmospheric sensing systems are discussed. End-to-end data flow from the ARCS systems to the ARM Program archives is discussed.

Oil spills have a devastating effect on biologically rich coastal environments. This report investigates this problem, covering damage by oil to biological systems, the use of dispersants (toxicity and considerations for dispersant use), impact of oil and dispersants on coral reefs, impact of oil on seagrass beds and sandy beaches, impact of oil on mangroves (seedling survival and tolerance, regeneration, forest type vulnerability, and cleanup and recovery activities in mangroves), conclusions, and recommendations. The study concludes that coral reefs and seagrass beds may escape significant spill damage if pollution is not chronic and if dispersants are not used. Sandy and rocky shores may be severely impacted but recover quickly. Mangroves are the most vulnerable coastal ecosystem. Recommendations are that oil spill contingency plans must be prepared for all areas, and that the necessary equipment for the plans must be in place.

Local acceleration via whistler wave and particle interaction plays a significant role in particle dynamics in the radiation belt. In this work we explore gyro-resonant wave-particle interaction and quasi-linear diffusion in different magnetic field configurations related to the March 17 2013 storm. We consider the Earth's magnetic dipole field as a reference and compare the results against non-dipole field configurations corresponding to quiet and stormy conditions. The latter are obtained with the ring current-atmosphere interactions model with a self-consistent magnetic field RAM-SCB, a code that models the Earth's ring current and provides a realistic modeling of the Earth's magnetic field. By applying quasi-linear theory, the bounce- and MLT-averaged electron pitch angle, mixed term, and energy diffusion coefficients are calculated for each magnetic field configuration. For radiation belt (~1 MeV) and ring current (~100 keV) electrons, it is shown that at some MLTs the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients become rather insensitive to the details of the magnetic field configuration, while at other MLTs storm conditions can expand the range of equatorial pitch angles where gyro-resonant diffusion occurs and significantly enhance the diffusion rates. When MLT average is performed at drift shell L = 4.25 (a good approximation to drift average), the diffusion coefficients become quite independent of the magnetic field configuration for relativistic electrons, while the opposite is true for lower energy electrons. These results suggest that, at least for the March 17 2013 storm and for L ? 4.25, the commonly adopted dipole approximation of the Earth's magnetic field can be safely used for radiation belt electrons, while a realistic modeling of the magnetic field configuration is necessary to describe adequately the diffusion rates of ring current electrons.

Local acceleration via whistler wave and particle interaction plays a significant role in particle dynamics in the radiation belt. In this work we explore gyro-resonant wave-particle interaction and quasi-linear diffusion in different magnetic field configurations related to the March 17 2013 storm. We consider the Earth's magnetic dipole field as a reference and compare the results against non-dipole field configurations corresponding to quiet and stormy conditions. The latter are obtained with the ring current-atmosphere interactions model with a self-consistent magnetic field RAM-SCB, a code that models the Earth's ring current and provides a realistic modeling of the Earth's magnetic field. By applying quasi-linear theory, the bounce- and MLT-averaged electron pitch angle, mixed term, and energy diffusion coefficients are calculated for each magnetic field configuration. For radiation belt (~1 MeV) and ring current (~100 keV) electrons, it is shown that at some MLTs the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients become rather insensitive to the details of the magnetic field configuration, while at other MLTs storm conditions can expand the range of equatorial pitch angles where gyro-resonant diffusion occurs and significantly enhance the diffusion rates. When MLT average is performed at drift shell L = 4.25 (a good approximation to drift average), the diffusion coefficients become quite independent of the magnetic field configuration for relativistic electrons, while the opposite is true for lower energy electrons. These results suggest that, at least for the March 17 2013 storm and for L ā² 4.25, the commonly adopted dipole approximation of the Earth's magnetic field can be safely used for radiation belt electrons, while a realistic modeling of the magnetic field configuration is necessary to describe adequately the diffusion rates of ring current electrons.

Local acceleration via whistler wave and particle interaction plays a significant role in particle dynamics in the radiation belt. In this work we explore gyro-resonant wave-particle interaction and quasi-linear diffusion in different magnetic field configurations related to the March 17 2013 storm. We consider the Earth's magnetic dipole field as a reference and compare the results against non-dipole field configurations corresponding to quiet and stormy conditions. The latter are obtained with the ring current-atmosphere interactions model with a self-consistent magnetic field RAM-SCB, a code that models the Earth's ring current and provides a realistic modeling of the Earth's magnetic field.moreĀ Ā» By applying quasi-linear theory, the bounce- and MLT-averaged electron pitch angle, mixed term, and energy diffusion coefficients are calculated for each magnetic field configuration. For radiation belt (~1 MeV) and ring current (~100 keV) electrons, it is shown that at some MLTs the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients become rather insensitive to the details of the magnetic field configuration, while at other MLTs storm conditions can expand the range of equatorial pitch angles where gyro-resonant diffusion occurs and significantly enhance the diffusion rates. When MLT average is performed at drift shell L = 4.25 (a good approximation to drift average), the diffusion coefficients become quite independent of the magnetic field configuration for relativistic electrons, while the opposite is true for lower energy electrons. These results suggest that, at least for the March 17 2013 storm and for L ā² 4.25, the commonly adopted dipole approximation of the Earth's magnetic field can be safely used for radiation belt electrons, while a realistic modeling of the magnetic field configuration is necessary to describe adequately the diffusion rates of ring current electrons.Ā«Ā less

The importance of aircraft survivability during the invasion of Iraq is examined detailing anecdotal evidence of susceptibility and vulnerability reduction. Among the aircraft used that were designed to be more survivable than their predecessors were the F-117, A-10, F/A-18, and the AH-64. Reduced vulnerability is incorporated into the aircraft designs in the form of damage tolerant components, redundancy, self-sealing fluid systems, and miniaturization.

This work presents the application of a newly developed method to facilitate the distinction between primary and secondary organic compounds in ambient aerosols based on their chiral analysis. The organic constituents chosen for chiral analysis are the four stereomers of the 2-methyltetrols, (2R,3S)- and (2S,3R)- methylerythritol and (2S,3S)- and (2R,3R)- methylthreitol. Ambient PM10 aerosol samples were collected between June 2008 and June 2009 near Manaus, Brazil, in a remote tropical rainforest environment of central Amazonia. The samples were analyzed for the presence of these four stereomers because qualitatively, in a previous study, they have been demonstrated to have partly primary origins. Thus the origin of these compounds may be primary and secondary from the biosynthesis and oxidation processes of isoprene within plants and also in the atmosphere. Using authentic standards, the quantified concentrations were in average 78.2 and 72.8 ng m-3 for (2R,3S)- and (2S,3R)- methylerythritol and 3.1 and 3.3 ng m-3 for (2S,3S)- and (2R,3R)- methylthreitol during the dry season and 7.1, 6.5, 2.0, and 2.2 ng m-3 during the wet season, respectively. Furthermore, these compounds were found to be outside the confidence interval for racemic mixtures (enantiomeric fraction, Ef = 0.5 -0.01) in nearly all the samples, with deviations of up to 32 % (Ef = 0.61) for (2R,3S)-methylerythritol and 47 % (Ef = 0.65) for (2S,3S)-methylthreitol indicating (99% confidence level) biologically-produced 2-methyltetrols. The minimum primary origin contribution ranged between 0.19 and 29.67 ng m-3 for the 2-methylerythritols and between 0.15 and 1.2 ng m-3 for the 2-methylthreitols. The strong correlation of the diatereomers (racemic 2-methylerythritol and 2-methylthreitol) in the wet season implied a secondary origin. Assuming the maximum secondary contribution in the dry season, the secondary fraction in the wet season was 81-99 % and in the dry season, 10 - 95 %. Nevertheless, from the

An operational amplifier-type active filter in which the only capacitor in the circuit is the compensating capacitance of the operational amplifiers, the various feedback and coupling elements being essentially solely resistive.

On 2012 September 30-October 1 the Earth underwent a two-step geomagnetic storm. We examine the Sun-to-Earth characteristics of the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) responsible for the geomagnetic storm with combined heliospheric imaging and in situ observations. The first CME, which occurred on 2012 September 25, is a slow event and shows an acceleration followed by a nearly invariant speed in the whole Sun-Earth space. The second event, launched from the Sun on 2012 September 27, exhibits a quick acceleration, then a rapid deceleration, and finally a nearly constant speed, a typical Sun-to-Earth propagation profile for fast CMEs. These two CMEs interacted near 1 AU as predicted by the heliospheric imaging observations and formed a complex ejecta observed at Wind, with a shock inside that enhanced the pre-existing southward magnetic field. Reconstruction of the complex ejecta with the in situ data indicates an overall left-handed flux-rope-like configuration with an embedded concave-outward shock front, a maximum magnetic field strength deviating from the flux rope axis, and convex-outward field lines ahead of the shock. While the reconstruction results are consistent with the picture of CME-CME interactions, a magnetic cloud-like structure without clear signs of CME interactions is anticipated when the merging process is finished.

All forestry information in the library of FAO was organized into country ''boxes,'' and all boxes for countries in tropical Asia and tropical America were searched for data on forest inventories. Information on location and extent of inventories and resulting stand and stock tables were obtained for (1) converting to biomass by using methods that were already developed and (2) calculating expansion factors (commercial volume to total biomass). This work was conducted by the University of Illinois (Drs. Sandra Brown, Principal Investigator, and Andrew Gillespie, Research Associate) for the Department of Energy's Energy Systems Program managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The travelers were successful in obtaining copies of some data for most countries in tropical Asia and tropical America. Most of the inventories for Asia were for only parts of countries, whereas most in America were national in scale. With the information gathered, the travelers will be able to make biomass estimates, geographically referenced, for many forest types representing thousands of hectares in most countries in these two tropical regions.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding was provided to supplement the environmental management program at several DOE sites, including the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Demolition of the ETTP K-33 Building, the largest building to be demolished to date in Oak Ridge, was awarded to LSRS in FY-2010 under the ARRA program. The K-33 building was an 82 foot tall 2-story structure covering approximately 32 acres. Once this massive building was brought down to the ground, the debris was segregated and consolidated into piles of concrete rubble and steel across the remaining pad. The process of demolishing the building, tracking across concrete debris with heavy equipment, and stockpiling the concrete rubble caused it to become pulverized. During and after storm events, hexavalent chromium leached from the residual cement present in the large quantities of concrete. Storm water control measures were present to preclude migration of contaminants off-site, but these control measures were not designed to control hexavalent chromium dissolved in storm water from reaching nearby receiving water. The following was implemented to mitigate hexavalent chromium in storm water: - Steel wool was distributed around K-33 site catch basins and in water pools as an initial step in addressing hexavalent chromium. - Since the piles of concrete were too massive and unsafe to tarp, they were placed into windrows in an effort to reduce total surface area. - A Hach colorimetric field meter was acquired by the K-33 project to provide realtime results of hexavalent chromium in site surface water. - Three hexavalent chromium treatment systems were installed at three separate catch basins that receive integrated storm water flow from the K-33 site. Sodium bisulfite is being used as a reducing agent for the immobilization of hexavalent chromium while also assisting in lowering pH. Concentrations initially were 310 - 474 ppb of hexavalent chromium in

Two independent datasets for the solar radiation at the surface derived from satellites are compared. The data derived from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) is for the net solar radiation at the surface whereas the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) data is for the downward flux only and was corrected with a space- and time-varying albedo. The ISCCP net flux is at all times higher than the ERBE flux. The difference can be divided into an offset that decreases with latitude and another component that correlates with high tropical cloud cover. With this latter exception the two datasets provide spatial patterns of solar flux that are very similar. A tropical Pacific Ocean model is forced with these two datasets and observed climatological winds. The upward heat flux is parameterized taking into account separately the longwave radiative, latent, and sensible heat fluxes. Best fit values for the uncertain parameters are found using an optimization procedure that seeks to minimize the difference between model and observed SST by varying the parameters within a reasonable range of uncertainty. The SST field the model produces with the best fit parameters is the best the model can do. If the differences between the model and data are larger than can be accounted for by remaining uncertainties in the heat flux parameterization and forcing data then the ocean model must be held to be at fault. Using this method of analysis, a fundamental model fault is identified. Inadequate treatment of mixed layer/entrainment processes in upwelling regions of the eastern tropical Pacific leads to a large and seasonally varying error in the model SST. Elsewhere the model SST is insufficiently different from observed to be able to identify model errors.

This paper investigates the mechanisms of convective cloud organization by precipitation-driven cold pools over the warm tropical Indian Ocean during the 2011 Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) Investigation Experiment / Dynamics of the MJO (AMIE/DYNAMO) field campaign. A high-resolution regional model simulation is performed using the Weather Research and Forecasting model during the transition from suppressed to active phases of the November 2011 MJO. The simulated cold pool lifetimes, spatial extent and thermodynamic properties agree well with the radar and ship-borne observations from the field campaign. The thermodynamic and dynamic structures of the outflow boundaries of isolated and intersecting cold pools in the simulation and the associated secondary cloud populations are examined. Intersecting cold pools last more than twice as long, are twice as large, 41% more intense (measured by buoyancy), and 62% deeper than isolated cold pools. Consequently, intersecting cold pools trigger 73% more convective clouds than isolated ones. This is possibly due to stronger outflows that enhance secondary updraft velocities by up to 45%. However, cold pool-triggered convective clouds grow into deep convection not because of the stronger secondary updrafts at cloud base, but rather due to closer spacing (aggregation) between clouds and larger cloud clusters that formed along the cold pool boundaries when they intersect. The close spacing of large clouds moistens the local environment and reduces entrainment drying, allowing the clouds to further develop into deep convection. Implications to the design of future convective parameterization with cold pool-modulated entrainment rates are discussed.

The role of tropical forests on the carbon balance of the world is studied with four different approaches: (1) to quantify the area of tropical forests and the changes in forest cover; (2) to calculate the storage and production of organic carbon in tropical forests; (3) the modelling of land use changes in tropical countries using computer simulation models; and (4) the synthesis of information from many sources into conceptual schemes using Life Zone and energy use concepts. Results are not yet conclusive but indicate that tropical forests play a significant role in the global carbon cycle, and they are likely to be small sources of carbon to the atmosphere. The basis for this statement is: (1) the large area of tropical forests do not appear to be changing as fast as suggested earlier; (2) the storage of carbon in the tropics is about one half as previously suggested; (3) the turnover of carbon in the tropics is very fast with large exports to the ocean via rivers; and (4) models of land use change using data from Bolivia show only a small net addition of carbon to the atmosphere.

Cloud radiative effects are examined using long-term datasets collected at the three Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facilities in the tropical western Pacific. We quantify the surface radiation budget, cloud populations, and cloud radiative effects by partitioning the data by cloud type, time of day, and as a function of large scale modes of variability such as El NiĆ±o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phase and wet/dry seasons at Darwin. The novel facet of our analysis is that we break aggregate cloud radiative effects down by cloud type across the diurnal cycle. The Nauru cloud populations and subsequently the surface radiation budget are strongly impacted by ENSO variability whereas the cloud populations over Manus only shift slightly in response to changes in ENSO phase. The Darwin site exhibits large seasonal monsoon related variations. We show that while deeper convective clouds have a strong conditional influence on the radiation reaching the surface, their limited frequency reduces their aggregate radiative impact. The largest source of shortwave cloud radiative effects at all three sites comes from low clouds. We use the observations to demonstrate that potential model biases in the amplitude of the diurnal cycle and mean cloud frequency would lead to larger errors in the surface energy budget compared to biases in the timing of the diurnal cycle of cloud frequency. Our results provide solid benchmarks to evaluate model simulations of cloud radiative effects in the tropics.

The relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) and deep convection is complex. In general, deep convection occurs more frequently and with more intensity as SSTs become higher. This theory assumes that the atmospheric stability is sufficiently reduced to allow the onset of moist convection. However, the amount and intensity of convection observed tends to decrease with increasing SST because very warm SSTs. A reason for such decrease is the enhancements to surface fluxes of heat and moisture out of the ocean surface because of the vertical overturning associated with deep convection. Early studies used the radiative-convective models of the atmosphere to examine the role of the convective exchange of heat and moisture in maintaining the vertical temperature profile. In this paper we use a Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) to simulate a squall line over a tropical ocean global atmosphere/coupled ocean atmosphere response experiment (TOGA/COARE) area and to investigate how the ocean cooling mechanisms associated with organized deep convection act to limit tropical SSTs.

Land surface temperatures (LSTs) within tropical forests contribute to climate variations. However, observational data are very limited in such regions. This study used passive microwave remote sensing data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS), providing observations under all weather conditions, to investigate the LST over the Amazon and Congo rainforests. The SSM/I and SSMIS data were collected from 1996 to 2012. The morning and afternoon observations from passive microwave remote sensing facilitate the investigation of the interannual changes of LST anomalies on a diurnal basis. As a result of the variability of cloud cover and the corresponding reduction of solar radiation, the afternoon LST anomalies tend to vary more than the morning LST anomalies. The dominant spatial and temporal patterns for interseasonal variations of the LST anomalies over the tropical rainforest were analyzed. The impacts of droughts and El NiĆ±os on this LST were also investigated. Lastly, the differences between early morning and late afternoon LST anomalies were identified by the remote sensing product, with the morning LST anomalies controlled by humidity (according to comparisons with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data).

Land surface temperatures (LSTs) within tropical forests contribute to climate variations. However, observational data are very limited in such regions. This study used passive microwave remote sensing data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS), providing observations under all weather conditions, to investigate the LST over the Amazon and Congo rainforests. The SSM/I and SSMIS data were collected from 1996 to 2012. The morning and afternoon observations from passive microwave remote sensing facilitate the investigation of the interannual changes of LST anomalies on a diurnal basis. As a result of the variability ofmoreĀ Ā» cloud cover and the corresponding reduction of solar radiation, the afternoon LST anomalies tend to vary more than the morning LST anomalies. The dominant spatial and temporal patterns for interseasonal variations of the LST anomalies over the tropical rainforest were analyzed. The impacts of droughts and El NiĆ±os on this LST were also investigated. Lastly, the differences between early morning and late afternoon LST anomalies were identified by the remote sensing product, with the morning LST anomalies controlled by humidity (according to comparisons with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data).Ā«Ā less

Based on results from analytic and general circulation models, the authors propose a theory for the coupled warm pool, cold tongue, and Walker circulation system. The intensity of the coupled system is determined by the coupling strength, the local equilibrium time, and latitudinal differential heating. Most importantly, this intensity is strongly regulated in the coupled system, with a saturation level that can be reached at a modest coupling strength. The saturation west-east sea surface temperature difference (and the associated Walker circulation) corresponds to about one-quarter of the latitudinal differential equilibrium temperature. This regulation is caused primarily by the decoupling of the SST gradient from a strong ocean current. The author`s estimate suggests that the present Pacific is near the saturation state. Furthermore, the much weaker Walker circulation system in the Atlantic Ocean is interpreted as being the result of the influence of the adjacent land, which is able to extend into the entire Atlantic to change the zonal distribution of the trade wind. The theory is also applied to understand the tropical climatology in coupled GCM simulations, in the Last Glacial Maximum climate, and in the global warming climate, as well as in the regulation of the tropical sea surface temperature. 41 refs., 15 figs.

Although the societal impact of a weather event increases with the rarity of the event, our current ability to assess extreme events and their impacts is limited by not only rarity but also by current model fidelity and a lack of understanding of the underlying physical processes. This challenge is driving fresh approaches to assess high-impact weather and climate. Recent lessons learned in modeling high-impact weather and climate are presented using the case of tropical cyclones as an illustrative example. Through examples using the Nested Regional Climate Model to dynamically downscale large-scale climate data the need to treat bias in the driving data is illustrated. Domain size, location, and resolution are also shown to be critical and should be guided by the need to: include relevant regional climate physical processes; resolve key impact parameters; and to accurately simulate the response to changes in external forcing. The notion of sufficient model resolution is introduced together with the added value in combining dynamical and statistical assessments to fill out the parent distribution of high-impact parameters. Finally, through the example of a tropical cyclone damage index, direct impact assessments are presented as powerful tools that distill complex datasets into concise statements on likely impact, and as highly effective communication devices. Capsule: "Combining dynamical modeling of high-impact weather using traditional regional climate models with statistical techniques allows for comprehensive sampling of the full distribution, uncertainty estimation, direct assessment of impacts, and increased confidence in future changes."

Although the societal impact of a weather event increases with the rarity of the event, our current ability to assess extreme events and their impacts is limited by not only rarity but also by current model fidelity and a lack of understanding of the underlying physical processes. This challenge is driving fresh approaches to assess high-impact weather and climate. Recent lessons learned in modeling high-impact weather and climate are presented using the case of tropical cyclones as an illustrative example. Through examples using the Nested Regional Climate Model to dynamically downscale large-scale climate data the need to treat bias in the driving data is illustrated. Domain size, location, and resolution are also shown to be critical and should be guided by the need to: include relevant regional climate physical processes; resolve key impact parameters; and to accurately simulate the response to changes in external forcing. The notion of sufficient model resolution is introduced together with the added value in combining dynamical and statistical assessments to fill out the parent distribution of high-impact parameters. Finally, through the example of a tropical cyclone damage index, direct impact assessments are resented as powerful tools that distill complex datasets into concise statements on likely impact, and as highly effective communication devices.

The impact of oceanic convection on its environment and the relationship between the characteristics of the convection and the resulting cirrus characteristics is still not understood. An intense airborne measurement campaign combined with an extensive network of ground-based observations is being planned for the region near Darwin, Northern Australia, during January-February, 2006, to address these questions. The Tropical Warm Pool International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) will be the first field program in the tropics that attempts to describe the evolution of tropical convection, including the large scale heat, moisture, and momentum budgets, while at the same time obtaining detailed observations of cloud properties and the impact of the clouds on the environment. The emphasis will be on cirrus for the cloud properties component of the experiment. Cirrus clouds are ubiquitous in the tropics and have a large impact on their environment but the properties of these clouds are poorly understood. A crucial product from this experiment will be a dataset suitable to provide the forcing and testing required by cloud-resolving models and parameterizations in global climate models. This dataset will provide the necessary link between cloud properties and the models that are attempting to simulate them.

This group, composed of modelers working in conjunction with tropical ecologists, has produced a simulation model that quantifies the net carbon exchange between tropical vegetation and the atmosphere due to land use change. The model calculates this net exchange by combining estimates of land use change with several estimates of the carbon stored in tropical vegetation and general assumptions about the fate of cleared vegetation. In this report, the authors use estimates of land use and carbon of land use and carbon storage organized into six life zone (sensu Holdridge) categories to calculate the exchange between the atmosphere and the vegetation of four tropical countries. Their analyses of these countries indicate that this life zone approach has several advantages because (a) the carbon content of vegetation varies significantly among life zones, (b) much of the land use change occurs in life zones of only moderate carbon storage, and (c) the fate of cleared vegetation varies among life zones. Their analyses also emphasize the importance of distinguishing between temporary and permanent land use change, as the recovery of vegetation on abandoned areas decreases the net release of carbon due to clearing. They include sensitivity analysis of those factors that they found to be important but are difficult to quantify at present.

The global characteristics of tropical cyclones (TCs) simulated by several climate models are analyzed and compared with observations. The global climate models were forced by the same sea surface temperature (SST) fields in two types of experiments, using climatological SST and interannually varying SST. TC tracks and intensities are derived from each model's output fields by the group who ran that model, using their own preferred tracking scheme; the study considers the combination of model and tracking scheme as a single modeling system, and compares the properties derived from the different systems. Overall, the observed geographic distribution of global TCmoreĀ Ā» frequency was reasonably well reproduced. As expected, with the exception of one model, intensities of the simulated TC were lower than in observations, to a degree that varies considerably across models.Ā«Ā less

The global characteristics of tropical cyclones (TCs) simulated by several climate models are analyzed and compared with observations. The global climate models were forced by the same sea surface temperature (SST) fields in two types of experiments, using climatological SST and interannually varying SST. TC tracks and intensities are derived from each model's output fields by the group who ran that model, using their own preferred tracking scheme; the study considers the combination of model and tracking scheme as a single modeling system, and compares the properties derived from the different systems. Overall, the observed geographic distribution of global TC frequency was reasonably well reproduced. As expected, with the exception of one model, intensities of the simulated TC were lower than in observations, to a degree that varies considerably across models.

This report details a radiative-convective model, combining previously developed cumulus, stable cloud and radiation parameterizations with a boundary layer scheme, which was developed in the current study. The cloud model was modified to incorporate the effects of both small and large clouds. The boundary layer model was adapted from a mixed layer model was only slightly modified to couple it with the more sophisticated cloud model. The model was tested for a variety of imposed divergence profiles, which simulate the regions of the tropical ocean from approximately the intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to the subtropical high region. The sounding used to initialize the model for most of the runs is from the trade wind region of ATEX. For each experiment, the model was run with a timestep of 300 seconds for a period of 7 days.

The evaluation of native and introduced legumes with starch-storing roots or tubers was undertaken to test whether plants traditionally collected as food by Australian aborigines might have a role in the development of crops for liquid fuel production (by fermentation of carbohydrates to ethanol). Tuberous-rooted legumes from overseas were planted at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, Kimberley Research Station, Western Australia (15/sup 0/39'S, 128/sup 0/42'E) in December 1974, March 1978 and February 1979. Roots from the latter plantings were harvested in June 1979. Native plant material was collected during visits to aboriginal communities in the Kimberleys between April and June 1979. The native and introduced specimens were analyzed for fermentable carbohydrate and protein content. Several native plants appear more promising than introduced species as liquid fuel crops.

In order to investigate a potential use of concentrating solar power technologies and select an optimum site for these technologies, it is necessary to obtain information on the geographical distribution of direct normal solar irradiation over an area of interest. In this work, we have developed a method for estimating direct normal irradiation from satellite data for a tropical environment. The method starts with the estimation of global irradiation on a horizontal surface from MTSAT-1R satellite data and other ground-based ancillary data. Then a satellite-based diffuse fraction model was developed and used to estimate the diffuse component of the satellite-derived global irradiation. Based on this estimated global and diffuse irradiation and the solar radiation incident angle, the direct normal irradiation was finally calculated. To evaluate its performance, the method was used to estimate the monthly average hourly direct normal irradiation at seven pyrheliometer stations in Thailand. It was found that values of monthly average hourly direct normal irradiation from the measurements and those estimated from the proposed method are in reasonable agreement, with a root mean square difference of 16% and a mean bias of -1.6%, with respect to mean measured values. After the validation, this method was used to estimate the monthly average hourly direct normal irradiation over Thailand by using MTSAT-1R satellite data for the period from June 2005 to December 2008. Results from the calculation were displayed as hourly and yearly irradiation maps. These maps reveal that the direct normal irradiation in Thailand was strongly affected by the tropical monsoons and local topography of the country. (author)

A method of detecting an activator, the method including impinging with an activator a receptor material lacking a photoluminescent material and generating a by-product of a radioactive decay due to the activator impinging the reeptor material. The method further including, generating light from the by-product via the Cherenkov effect and identifying a characteristic of the activator based on the light.

During most of the December 1990-February 1991 season sharp transcontinental temperature anomaly contrasts were evident in North America, Eurasia, and Australia. Large-scale atmospheric precipitations are more difficult to characterize. In the equatorial tropics there was some evidence of conditions similar to ENSO near the date line, but an almost complete failure of other ENSO components to appear in the east Pacific and in the tropical atmospheric circulation. 12 refs., 21 figs., 1 tab.

Here, the impact of vertical wind shear on the sensitivity of tropical cyclogenesis to environmental rotation and thermodynamic state is investigated through idealized cloud-resolving simulations of the intensification of an incipient vortex. With vertical shear, tropical cyclones intensify faster with a higher Coriolis parameter, f, irrespective of the environmental thermodynamic state. The vertical shear develops a vertically tilted vortex, which undergoes a precession process with the midlevel vortices rotating cyclonically around the surface center. With a higher f, the midlevel vortices are able to rotate continuously against the vertical shear, leading to the realignment of the tilted vortex and rapidmoreĀ Ā» intensification. With a lower f, the rotation is too slow such that the midlevel vortices are advected away from the surface center and the intensification is suppressed. The parameter, Ī§b, measuring the effect from the low-entropy downdraft air on the boundary layer entropy, is found to be a good indicator of the environmental thermodynamic favorability for tropical cyclogenesis in vertical shear. Without vertical shear, tropical cyclones are found to intensify faster with a lower f by previous studies. We show this dependency on f is sensitive to the environmental thermodynamic state. The thermodynamical favorability for convection can be measured by Ī§m, which estimates the time it takes for surface fluxes to moisten the midtroposphere. A smaller Ī§m not only leads to a faster intensification due to a shorter period for moist preconditioning of the inner region but also neutralizes the faster intensification with a lower f due to enhanced peripheral convection.Ā«Ā less

Here, the impact of vertical wind shear on the sensitivity of tropical cyclogenesis to environmental rotation and thermodynamic state is investigated through idealized cloud-resolving simulations of the intensification of an incipient vortex. With vertical shear, tropical cyclones intensify faster with a higher Coriolis parameter, f, irrespective of the environmental thermodynamic state. The vertical shear develops a vertically tilted vortex, which undergoes a precession process with the midlevel vortices rotating cyclonically around the surface center. With a higher f, the midlevel vortices are able to rotate continuously against the vertical shear, leading to the realignment of the tilted vortex and rapid intensification. With a lower f, the rotation is too slow such that the midlevel vortices are advected away from the surface center and the intensification is suppressed. The parameter, Ī§b, measuring the effect from the low-entropy downdraft air on the boundary layer entropy, is found to be a good indicator of the environmental thermodynamic favorability for tropical cyclogenesis in vertical shear. Without vertical shear, tropical cyclones are found to intensify faster with a lower f by previous studies. We show this dependency on f is sensitive to the environmental thermodynamic state. The thermodynamical favorability for convection can be measured by Ī§m, which estimates the time it takes for surface fluxes to moisten the midtroposphere. A smaller Ī§m not only leads to a faster intensification due to a shorter period for moist preconditioning of the inner region but also neutralizes the faster intensification with a lower f due to enhanced peripheral convection.

As part of the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign of the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Research and Development, a consortium of national laboratories and industry is performing visual inspections and temperature measurements of selected storage modules at various locations around the United States. This report documents thermal analyses in in support of the inspections at the Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station ISFSI. This site utilizes the HI-STORM100 vertical storage system developed by Holtec International. This is a vertical storage module design, and the thermal models are being developed using COBRA-SFS (Michener, et al., 1987), a code developed by PNNL for thermal-hydraulic analyses of multi assembly spent fuel storage and transportation systems. This report describes the COBRA-SFS model in detail, and presents pre-inspection predictions of component temperatures and temperature distributions. The final report will include evaluation of inspection results, and if required, additional post-test calculations, with appropriate discussion of results.

This report fulfills the M3 milestone M3FT-13PN0810022, Report on Inspection 1, under Work Package FT-13PN081002. Thermal analysis is being undertaken at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in support of inspections of selected storage modules at various locations around the United States, as part of the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Research and Development. This report documents pre-inspection predictions of temperatures for four modules at the Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station ISFSI that have been identified as candidates for inspection in late summer or early fall/winter of 2013. These are HI-STORM 100S-218 Version B modules storing BWR 8x8 fuel in MPC-68 canisters. The temperature predictions reported in this document were obtained with detailed COBRA-SFS models of these four storage systems, with the following boundary conditions and assumptions.

In this research the impact of modifying the size distribution assumptions of the precipitating hydrometeors in a bulk one-moment microphysics scheme on simulated surface precipitation and storm dynamics has been explored for long-lived low-topped supercells in Belgium. It was shown that weighting the largest precipitating ice species of the microphysics scheme to small graupel results in an increase of surface precipitation because of counteracting effects. On the one hand, the precipitation formation process slowed down, resulting in lower precipitation efficiency. On the other hand, latent heat release associated with freezing favored more intense storms. In contrast to previous studies finding decreased surface precipitation when graupel was present in the microphysics parameterization, storms were rather shallow in the authors simulations. This left little time for graupel sublimation. The impact of size distribution assumptions of snow was found to be small, but more realistic size distribution assumptions of rain led to the strongest effect on surface precipitation. Cold pools shrunk because of weaker rain evaporation at the cold pool boundaries, leading to a decreased surface rain area.

Radiative heating is one of the principal drivers of tropical circulation. While we have good knowledge of radiative fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere and at specific surface sites, observations of atmospheric profiles of radiative heating, particular in cloudy conditions, have been largely unavailable. The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program has begun a program to compute radiative heating profiles routinely at its observational sites at Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, using observed and retrieved inputs of water vapor and condensed water phase, particle size, and mass. The accuracy of these profiles can be assessed by comparing the calculated TOA and surface fluxes with observations. We have computed radiative heating profiles every 20 minutes for several months at each of these two sites in the 1999-2000 time period, which represent a unique dataset for model comparison. Here, we compare this dataset to model output from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) analysis, the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model (CAM 3.0) and the Multi-Scale Modeling Framework (MMF). These three models, all run using observed SST for this comparison, provide an interesting range of resolution from the 4 km cloud resolving model in the MMF to the approximately 280 km grid-scale of the CAM and a contrast between forecasting and climate models. In general, the model results fail to capture the structure of the observed heating in the upper troposphere because of their failure to simulate cirrus and stratiform cloud adequately.

A recently developed single channel microwave rain rate retrieval algorithm exists to measure global precipitation over the data-sparse tropical oceans. The objective of this study is to retrieve and validate rainfall using this algorithm, followed by an analysis of the derived rainfall fields. Retrieval consists of applying the algorithm technique to the extraction of four years worth of achieved data from the Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) instrument flown aboard the NIMBUS 5 satellite. The Pacific Atoll Raingage Data Set is chosen as a ground truth measure to validate the ESMR-Derived rainfall data against, comparing slope, intercept and correlation between 5 deg x 5 deg area average. Despite limitations imposed by the comparison of point measurements to area-averaged rainfall, results show a 0.80 correlation. Monthly and quarterly climatological mean rainfall estimates are produced, with a consequent analysis of prominent signals, especially in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) and the Indian monsoon. Latent heat flux is computed, using the ESMR-derived rainfall, and plotted to show qualitatively where seasonal latent thermodynamic energy sources and sinks exist in the atmosphere. A comparison of the summer and winter quarterly composites of the above products with previously compiled climatologies and Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) showed only minor discrepancies in location and intensity, which are discussed in some detail.

Oil and gas development in tropical rain forests has attracted international attention because of the potentially adverse effects on the forest ecosystems. Biodiversity is a topic of particular concern, but is difficult to assess for small areas of disturbance. In July 1992 we used light traps to compare insect diversity at canopy and ground level as a means of detecting the impacts of an exploratory well site and related facilities within mature Amazonian rain forest in the Oriente Province of Ecuador. Replicate samples were collected at the well site, in a nearby area of agricultural development, and in a reference site within mature forest. Species richness was determined, and diversity indices were calculated for each set of samples. Results indicated that changes in diversity could be detected in the canopy and at ground level at the well site, but that the reduction in diversity was small. Biological diversity was substantially reduced in the area of agricultural development. Limitations and possible applications of this approach are discussed.

Based on the assumption of 4{degree}C increase of global temperature by the turn of 21st century due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases an attempt is made to study the possible variations in different climatic regimes. The predictive climatic water balance model for Hokkaido island of Japan (a temperate zone) indicates the possible occurrence of water deficit for two to three months, which is a unknown phenomenon in this region at present. Similarly, India which represents tropical region also will experience much drier climates with increased water deficit conditions. As a consequence, the thermal region of Hokkaido which at present is mostly Tundra and Micro thermal will change into a Meso thermal category. Similarly, the moisture regime which at present supports per humid (A2, A3 and A4) and Humid (B4) climates can support A1, B4, B3, B2 and B1 climates indicating a shift towards drier side of the climatic spectrum. Further, the predictive modes of both the regions have indicated increased evapotranspiration rates. Although there is not much of change in the overall thermal characteristics of the Indian region the moisture regime indicates a clear shift towards the aridity in the country.

The goal of our research was to assess the impact of post-mining land subsidence, caused due to underground coal mining operations, on fine root biomass and root tips count; plant available nutrient status, microbial biomass N (MBN) and N-mineralization rates of a Southern tropical dry deciduous forest of Singareni Coalfields of India. The changes were quantified in all the three (rainy, winter and summer) seasons, in slope and depression microsites of the subsided land and an adjacent undamaged forest microsite. Physico-chemical characteristics were found to be altered after subsidence, showing a positive impact of subsidence on soil moisture, bulk density, water holding capacity, organic carbon content, total N and total P. The increase in all the parameters was found in depression microsites, while in slope microsites, the values were lower. Fine root biomass and root tips count increased in the subsided depression microsites, as demonstrated by increases of 62% and 45%, respectively. Soil nitrate-N and phosphate-P concentrations were also found to be higher in depression microsite, showing an increase of 35.68% and 24.74%, respectively. Depression microsite has also shown the higher MBN value with an increase over control. Net nitrification, net N-mineralization and MBN were increased in depression microsite by 29.77%, 25.72% and 34%, respectively. There was a positive relation of microbial N with organic C, fine root biomass and root tips.

Observational evidence of two-way association between nocturnal boundary layer aerosols and cloud macrophysical properties under different meteorological conditions is reported in this paper. The study has been conducted during 2008-09 employing a high space-time resolution polarimetric micro-pulse lidar over a tropical urban station in India. Firstly, the study highlights the crucial role of boundary layer aerosols and background meteorology on the formation and structure of low-level stratiform clouds in the backdrop of different atmospheric stability conditions. Turbulent mixing induced by the wind shear at the station, which is associated with a complex terrain, is found to play a pivotal role in the formation and structural evolution of nocturnal boundary layer clouds. Secondly, it is shown that the trapping of energy in the form of outgoing terrestrial radiation by the overlying low-level clouds can enhance the aerosol mixing height associated with the nocturnal boundary layer. To substantiate this, the long-wave heating associated with cloud capping has been quantitatively estimated in an indirect way by employing an Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model version 2.2 developed by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Colorado, USA, and supplementary data sets; and differentiated against other heating mechanisms. The present investigation as well establishes the potential of lidar remote-sensing technique in exploring some of the intriguing aspects of the cloud-environment relationship.

ARM maintains four major, permanent sites for data collection and deploys the ARM Mobile Facility to other sites as determined. The Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) site is one of the four fixed sites. It consists of three climate research facilities; the Manus facility on Los Negros Island in Manus, Papua New Guinea (established in 1996); the Nauru facility on Nauru Island, Republic of Nauru (1998); and the Darwin facility in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia (2002). The operations are supported by government agencies in each host country. Covering the area roughly between 10 degrees N and 10 degrees S of the equator and from 130 degrees E to 167 degrees E, the TWP locale includes a region that plays a large role in the interannual variability observed in the global climate system. More than 250,000 TWP data sets from 1996 to the present reside in the ARM Archive. Begin at the TWP information page for links or access data directly from the ARM Archive at http://www.archive.arm.gov/. Users will need to register for a password, but all files are then free for viewing or downloading. The ARM Archive physically resides at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

This article discusses the sensitivity of tropical cyclone climatology to surface coupling strategy in high-resolution configurations of the Community Earth System Model. Using two supported model setups, we demonstrate that the choice of grid on which the lowest model level wind stress and surface fluxes are computed may lead to differences in cyclone strength in multi-decadal climate simulations, particularly for the most intense cyclones. Using a deterministic framework, we show that when these surface quantities are calculated on an ocean grid that is coarser than the atmosphere, the computed frictional stress is misaligned with wind vectors in individual atmospheric gridmoreĀ Ā» cells. This reduces the effective surface drag, and results in more intense cyclones when compared to a model configuration where the ocean and atmosphere are of equivalent resolution. Our results demonstrate that the choice of computation grid for atmosphereāocean interactions is non-negligible when considering climate extremes at high horizontal resolution, especially when model components are on highly disparate grids.Ā«Ā less

The impact of oceanic convection on its environment and the relationship between the characteristics of the convection and the resulting cirrus characteristics is still not understood. An intense airborne measurement campaign combined with an extensive network of ground-based observations is being planned for the region near Darwin, Northern Australia, during January-February, 2006, to address these questions. The Tropical Warm Pool ā International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) will be the first field program in the tropics that attempts to describe the evolution of tropical convection, including the large scale heat, moisture, and momentum budgets, while at the same time obtaining detailed observations of cloud properties and the impact of the clouds on the environment. The emphasis will be on cirrus for the cloud properties component of the experiment. Cirrus clouds are ubiquitous in the tropics and have a large impact on their environment but the properties of these clouds are poorly understood. A crucial product from this experiment will be a dataset suitable to provide the forcing and testing required by cloud-resolving models and parameterizations in global climate models. This dataset will provide the necessary link between cloud properties and the models that are attempting to simulate them. The experiment is a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Commission DG RTD-1.2, and several United States, Australian, Canadian, and European Universities. This experiment will be undertaken over a 4-week period in early 2006. January and February corresponds to the wet phase of the Australia monsoon. This season has been selected because, despite Darwinās coastal location, the convection that occurs over and near Darwin at this time is largely of maritime origin with a large fetch over water

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program is the largest global change research program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The primary goal of the ARM Program is to improve the treatment of cloud and radiation physics in global climate models in order to improve the climate simulation capabilities of these models. To achieve this goal, ARM scientists and researchers around the world use continuous data obtained through the ARM Climate Research Facility. ARM maintains four major, permanent sites for data collection and deploys the ARM Mobile Facility to other sites as determined. The Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) site is one of the four fixed sites. It consists of three climate research facilities; the Manus facility on Los Negros Island in Manus, Papua New Guinea (established in 1996); the Nauru facility on Nauru Island, Republic of Nauru (1998); and the Darwin facility in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia (2002). The operations are supported by government agencies in each host country. Covering the area roughly between 10 degrees N and 10 degrees S of the equator and from 130 degrees E to 167 degrees E, the TWP locale includes a region that plays a large role in the interannual variability observed in the global climate system. More than 250,000 TWP data sets from 1996 to the present reside in the ARM Archive. Begin at the TWP information page for links or access data directly from the ARM Archive at http://www.archive.arm.gov/. Users will need to register for a password, but all files are then free for viewing or downloading. The ARM Archive physically resides at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Here, the fast pyrolysis behaviour of pretreated banagrass was examined at four temperatures (between 400 and 600 C) and four residence times (between ~1.2 and 12 s). The pretreatment used water washing/leaching to reduce the inorganic content of the banagrass. Yields of bio-oil, permanent gases and char were determined at each reaction condition and compared to previously published results from untreated banagrass. Comparing the bio-oil yields from the untreated and pretreated banagrass shows that the yields were greater from the pretreated banagrass by 4 to 11 wt% (absolute) at all reaction conditions. The effect of pretreatment (i.e. reducing the amountmoreĀ Ā» of ash, and alkali and alkali earth metals) on pyrolysis products is: 1) to increase the dry bio-oil yield, 2) to decrease the amount of undetected material, 3) to produce a slight increase in CO yield or no change, 4) to slightly decrease CO2 yield or no change, and 5) to produce a more stable bio-oil (less aging). Char yield and total gas yield were unaffected by feedstock pretreatment. Four other tropical biomass species were also pyrolyzed under one condition (450Ā°C and 1.4 s residence time) for comparison to the banagrass results. The samples include two hardwoods: leucaena and eucalyptus, and two grasses: sugarcane bagasse and energy-cane. A sample of pretreated energy-cane was also pyrolyzed. Of the materials tested, the best feedstocks for fast pyrolysis were sugarcane bagasse, pretreated energy cane and eucalyptus based on the yields of 'dry bio-oil', CO and CO2. On the same basis, the least productive feedstocks are untreated banagrass followed by pretreated banagrass and leucaena.Ā«Ā less

A catalyst activator particularly adapted for use in the activation of metal complexes of metals of Group 3-10 for polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated polymerizable monomers, especially olefins, comprising two Group 13 metal or metalloid atoms and a ligand structure including at least one bridging group connecting ligands on the two Group 13 metal or metalloid atoms.

June 2010 1 June 2010 Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement: 2010 Outlook for Hurricane-Related Production Outages in the Gulf of Mexico Highlights ļ· The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, released on May 27, 2010, predicted that the Atlantic basin will likely experience above-normal tropical weather activity during the upcoming hurricane season (June 1 - November 30). 1 NOAA projects that 14 to 23 named storms will form within the

Supplement: 2012 Outlook for Hurricane-Related Production Outages in the Gulf of Mexico Highlights ļ· The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, released on May 24, 2012, predicts that the Atlantic basin likely will experience near- normal tropical weather activity during the upcoming hurricane season (June 1 - November 30). 1 NOAA projects that 9 to 15 named storms will form within the Atlantic Basin over the next 6 months, including 4 to 8

June 2012 1 June 2012 Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement: 2012 Outlook for Hurricane-Related Production Outages in the Gulf of Mexico Highlights ļ· The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, released on May 24, 2012, predicts that the Atlantic basin likely will experience near- normal tropical weather activity during the upcoming hurricane season (June 1 - November 30). 1 NOAA projects that 9 to 15 named storms will form within the Atlantic

Despite the strong dependence of the Power Dissipation Index (PDI), which is a measure of the intensity of Tropical Cyclone (TC) activity, on tropical sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), the variations in PDI are not completely explained by SST. Here we show, using an analysis of a string of observational data sets, that the variability of the thermocline depth (TD) in the east Pacific exerts a significant degree of control on the variability of PDI in that region. On average, a deep thermocline with a larger reservoir of heat favors TC intensification by reducing SST cooling while a shallow thermocline with a smaller heat reservoir promotes enhanced SST cooling that contributes to TC decay. At interannual time scales, the variability of basin-mean TD accounts for nearly 30% of the variability in the PDI during the TC season. Also, about 20% of the interannual variability in the east Pacific basin-mean TD is due to the El Nińo and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a dominant climate signal in this region. This study suggests that a better understanding of the factors governing the interannual variability of the TD conditions in the east Pacific and how they may change over time, may lead to an improved projection of future east Pacific TC activity.

A stress evaluation was conducted in a laboratory test in which the physiological and psychological reactions of soldiers were monitored while they wore either the standard battle dress overgarment (MOPPI) or the full complement of chemical protective clothing with mask (MOPPIV) and worked at low, moderate, or high work loads in simulated desert (hot and dry) or tropic (hot and humid) environments. The psychological instruments indicated greater stress responses for soldiers wearing MOPPIV than wearing MOPPI and for soldiers working at a high work load than working at a low work load. Chemical protective clothing, MOPPIV, Tropics, Desert, Psychological stress, Work load, MOPPI, Stress evaluation.

The Earth's hemispheric reflectances are equivalent to within Ā± 0.2 Wmā2, even though the Northern Hemisphere contains a greater proportion of higher reflectance land areas, because of greater cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere. This equivalence is unlikely to be by chance, but the reasons are open to debate. Here we show that equilibrating hemispheric albedos in the Hadley Centre Global Environment Model version 2-Earth System coupled climate model significantly improves what have been considered longstanding and apparently intractable model biases. Monsoon precipitation biases over all continental land areas, the penetration of monsoon rainfall across the Sahel, the West AfricanmoreĀ Ā» monsoon ājumpā, and indicators of hurricane frequency are all significantly improved. Mechanistically, equilibrating hemispheric albedos improves the atmospheric cross-equatorial energy transport and increases the supply of tropical atmospheric moisture to the Hadley cell. Furthermore, we conclude that an accurate representation of the cross-equatorial energy transport appears to be critical if tropical performance is to be improved.Ā«Ā less

This report is aimed to show the author's activities to support the LDRD. The title is 'Investigation of the Double-C Behavior in the Pu-Ga Time-Temperature-Transformation Diagram' The sections are: (1) Sample Holder Test; (2) Calculation of x-ray diffraction patterns; (3) Literature search and preparing publications; (4) Tasks Required for APS Experiments; and (5) Communications.

A database was generated of estimates of geographically referenced carbon densities of forest vegetation in tropical Southeast Asia for 1980. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to incorporate spatial databases of climatic, edaphic, and geomorphological indices and vegetation to estimate potential (i.e., in the absence of human intervention and natural disturbance) carbon densities of forests. The resulting map was then modified to estimate actual 1980 carbon density as a function of population density and climatic zone. The database covers the following 13 countries: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia (Campuchea), India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The data sets within this database are provided in three file formats: ARC/INFOTM exported integer grids, ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) files formatted for raster-based GIS software packages, and generic ASCII files with x, y coordinates for use with non-GIS software packages. This database includes ten ARC/INFO exported integer grid files (five with the pixel size 3.75 km x 3.75 km and five with the pixel size 0.25 degree longitude x 0.25 degree latitude) and 27 ASCII files. The first ASCII file contains the documentation associated with this database. Twenty-four of the ASCII files were generated by means of the ARC/INFO GRIDASCII command and can be used by most raster-based GIS software packages. The 24 files can be subdivided into two groups of 12 files each. These files contain real data values representing actual carbon and potential carbon density in Mg C/ha (1 megagram = 10{sup 6} grams) and integer-coded values for country name, Weck's Climatic Index, ecofloristic zone, elevation, forest or non-forest designation, population density, mean annual precipitation, slope, soil texture, and vegetation classification. One set of 12 files contains these data at a spatial resolution of 3.75 km, whereas the other

A database was generated of estimates of geographically referenced carbon densities of forest vegetation in tropical Southeast Asia for 1980. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to incorporate spatial databases of climatic, edaphic, and geomorphological indices and vegetation to estimate potential (i.e., in the absence of human intervention and natural disturbance) carbon densities of forests. The resulting map was then modified to estimate actual 1980 carbon density as a function of population density and climatic zone. The database covers the following 13 countries: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia (Campuchea), India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The data sets within this database are provided in three file formats: ARC/INFO{trademark} exported integer grids, ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) files formatted for raster-based GIS software packages, and generic ASCII files with x, y coordinates for use with non-GIS software packages. This database includes ten ARC/INFO exported integer grid files (five with the pixel size 3.75 km x 3.75 km and five with the pixel size 0.25 degree longitude x 0.25 degree latitude) and 27 ASCII files. The first ASCII file contains the documentation associated with this database. Twenty-four of the ASCII files were generated by means of the ARC/INFO GRIDASCII command and can be used by most raster-based GIS software packages. The 24 files can be subdivided into two groups of 12 files each. These files contain real data values representing actual carbon and potential carbon density in Mg C/ha (1 megagram = 10{sup 6} grams) and integer- coded values for country name, Weck's Climatic Index, ecofloristic zone, elevation, forest or non-forest designation, population density, mean annual precipitation, slope, soil texture, and vegetation classification. One set of 12 files contains these data at a spatial resolution of 3.75 km, whereas

The impact of global tropical climate to perturbations in land surface processes (LSP) are evaluated using perturbations given by different LSP representations of continental-scale in a global climate model that includes atmosphere-ocean interactions. One representation is a simple land scheme, which specifies climatological albedos and soil moisture availability. The other representation is the more comprehensive Simplified Simple Biosphere Model, which allows for interactive soil moisture and vegetation biophysical processes. The results demonstrate that LSP processes such as interactive soil moisture and vegetation biophysical processes have strong impacts on the seasonal mean states and seasonal cycles of global precipitation, clouds, and surface air temperature. The impact is especially significant over the tropical Pacific. To explore the mechanisms for such impact, different LSP representations are confined to selected continental-scale regions where strong interactions of climate-vegetation biophysical processes are present. We find that the largest impact is mainly from LSP perturbations over the tropical African continent. The impact is through anomalous convective heating in tropical Africa due to changes in the surface heat fluxes, which in turn affect basinwide teleconnections in the Pacific through equatorial wave dynamics. The modifications in the equatorial Pacific climate are further enhanced by strong air-sea coupling between surface wind stress and upwelling, as well as effect of ocean memory. Our results further suggest that correct representations of land surface processes, land use change and the associated changes in the deep convection over tropical Africa are crucial to reducing the uncertainty when performing future climate projections under different climate change scenarios.

Lidar observations of cirrus cloud macrophysical properties over the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program Darwin, Australia site are compared from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and In- frared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite, the ground-based ARM micropulse lidar (MPL), and the ARM Raman lidar (RL). Comparisons are made using the subset of profiles where the lidar beam is not fully attenuated. Daytime measurements using the RL are shown to be relatively unaffected by the solar background and are therefore suited for checking the validity of diurnal cycles. RL and CALIPSO cloud fraction profiles show good agreement while the MPL detects significantly less cirrus, particularly during the daytime. Both MPL and CALIPSO observations show that cirrus clouds occur less frequently during the day than at night at all altitudes. In contrast, the RL diurnal cy- cle is significantly different than zero only below about 11 km; where it is the opposite sign (i.e. more clouds during the daytime). For cirrus geomet- rical thickness, the MPL and CALIPSO observations agree well and both datasets have signficantly thinner clouds during the daytime than the RL. From the examination of hourly MPL and RL cirrus cloud thickness and through the application of daytime detection limits to all CALIPSO data we find that the decreased MPL and CALIPSO cloud thickness during the daytime is very likely a result of increased daytime noise. This study highlights the vast im- provement the RL provides (compared to the MPL) in the ARM program's ability to observe tropical cirrus clouds as well as a valuable ground-based lidar dataset for the validation of CALIPSO observations and to help im- prove our understanding of tropical cirrus clouds.

The enhanced central and eastern Pacific SST warming and the associated ocean processes under global warming are investigated using the ocean component of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), Parallel Ocean Program version 2 (POP2). The tropical SST warming pattern in the coupled CESM can be faithfully reproduced by the POP2 forced with surface fluxes computed using the aerodynamic bulk formula. By prescribing the wind stress and/or wind speed through the bulk formula, the effects of wind stress change and/or the wind-evaporation-SST (WES) feedback are isolated and their linearity is evaluated in this ocean-alone setting. Result shows that, although the weakening of the equatorial easterlies contributes positively to the El NiĆ±o-like SST warming, 80% of which can be simulated by the POP2 without considering the effects of wind change in both mechanical and thermodynamic fluxes. This result points to the importance of the air-sea thermal interaction and the relative feebleness of the ocean dynamical process in the El NiĆ±o-like equatorial Pacific SST response to global warming. On the other hand, the wind stress change is found to play a dominant role in the oceanic response in the tropical Pacific, accounting for most of the changes in the equatorial ocean current system and thermal structures, including the weakening of the surface westward currents, the enhancement of the near-surface stratification and the shoaling of the equatorial thermocline. Interestingly, greenhouse gas warming in the absence of wind stress change and WES feedback also contributes substantially to the changes at the subsurface equatorial Pacific. Further, this warming impact can be largely replicated by an idealized ocean experiment forced by a uniform surface heat flux, whereby, arguably, a purest form of oceanic dynamical thermostat is revealed.

Meridional distribution of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over the tropical Atlantic Ocean (30Ā°N ā 30Ā°S) was analyzed to assess seasonal variations of meridional AOT asymmetry. Ten-year MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) data (July 2002 ā June 2012) confirms that the Sahara desert emits a significant amount of dust into the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean. Only over the Atlantic Ocean did MERRAero show that desert dust dominates other aerosol species and is responsible for meridional aerosol asymmetry between the tropical North and South Atlantic. Over the 10-year period under consideration, both MISR measurements and MERRAero data showed a pronounced meridional AOTmoreĀ Ā» asymmetry. The meridional AOT asymmetry, characterized by the hemispheric ratio (RAOT) of AOT averaged separately over the North and over the South Atlantic, was about 1.7. Seasonally, meridional AOT asymmetry over the Atlantic was the most pronounced between March and July, when dust presence is maximal (RAOT ranged from 2 to 2.4). There was no noticeable meridional aerosol asymmetry in total AOT from September to October. During this period the contribution of carbonaceous aerosols to total AOT in the South Atlantic was comparable to the contribution of dust aerosols to total AOT in the North Atlantic. During the same 10-year period, MODIS cloud fraction (CF) data showed that there was no noticeable asymmetry in meridional CF distribution in different seasons (the hemispheric ratio of CF ranged from 1.0 to 1.2). MODIS CF data illustrated significant cloud cover (CF of 0.7 ā 0.9) with limited precipitation ability along the Saharan Air Layer.Ā«Ā less

Meridional distribution of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over the tropical Atlantic Ocean (30Ā°N ā 30Ā°S) was analyzed to assess seasonal variations of meridional AOT asymmetry. Ten-year MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) data (July 2002 ā June 2012) confirms that the Sahara desert emits a significant amount of dust into the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean. Only over the Atlantic Ocean did MERRAero show that desert dust dominates other aerosol species and is responsible for meridional aerosol asymmetry between the tropical North and South Atlantic. Over the 10-year period under consideration, both MISR measurements and MERRAero data showed a pronounced meridional AOT asymmetry. The meridional AOT asymmetry, characterized by the hemispheric ratio (RAOT) of AOT averaged separately over the North and over the South Atlantic, was about 1.7. Seasonally, meridional AOT asymmetry over the Atlantic was the most pronounced between March and July, when dust presence is maximal (RAOT ranged from 2 to 2.4). There was no noticeable meridional aerosol asymmetry in total AOT from September to October. During this period the contribution of carbonaceous aerosols to total AOT in the South Atlantic was comparable to the contribution of dust aerosols to total AOT in the North Atlantic. During the same 10-year period, MODIS cloud fraction (CF) data showed that there was no noticeable asymmetry in meridional CF distribution in different seasons (the hemispheric ratio of CF ranged from 1.0 to 1.2). MODIS CF data illustrated significant cloud cover (CF of 0.7 ā 0.9) with limited precipitation ability along the Saharan Air Layer.

The combined CloudSat and CALIPSO satellite observations provide the first simultaneous measurements of cloud and precipitation vertical structure, and are used to examine the representation of tropical clouds and precipitation in the Community Atmosphere Model Version 3 (CAM3). A simulator package utilizing a model-to-satellite approach facilitates comparison of model simulations to observations, and a revised clustering method is used to sort the subgrid-scale patterns of clouds and precipitation into principal cloud regimes. Results from weather forecasts performed with CAM3 suggest that the model underestimates the horizontal extent of low and mid-level clouds in subsidence regions, but overestimates that of high clouds in ascending regions. CAM3 strongly overestimates the frequency of occurrence of the deep convection with heavy precipitation regime, but underestimates the horizontal extent of clouds and precipitation at low and middle levels when this regime occurs. This suggests that the model overestimates convective precipitation and underestimates stratiform precipitation consistent with a previous study that used only precipitation observations. Tropical cloud regimes are also evaluated in a different version of the model, CAM3.5, which uses a highly entraining plume in the parameterization of deep convection. While the frequency of occurrence of the deep convection with heavy precipitation regime from CAM3.5 forecasts decreases, the incidence of the low clouds with precipitation and congestus regimes increases. As a result, the parameterization change does not reduce the frequency of precipitating convection that is far too high relative to observations. For both versions of CAM, clouds and precipitation are overly reflective at the frequency of the CloudSat radar and thin clouds that could be detected by the lidar only are underestimated.

This report summarizes the activities of the Active Sites Environmental Monitoring Program (ASEMP) at ORNL from October 1991 through September 1992. Solid Waste Operations and the Environmental Sciences Division established ASEMP in 1989 to provide early detection and performance monitoring at active low-level waste (LLW) disposal sites in Solid Waste Storage Area (SWSA) 6 and transuranic (TRU) waste storage sites in SWSA 5 as required by Chapter 2 and 3 of US Department of Energy Order 5820.2A. The Interim Waste Management Facility (IWMF) began operation in December 1991. Monitoring results from the tumulus and IWMF disposal pads continue to indicate that no LLW is leaching from the storage vaults. Storm water falling on the IWMF active pad was collected and transported to the Process Waste Treatment Plant while operators awaited approval of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Several of the recent samples collected from the active IWMF pad had pH levels above the NPDES limit of 9.0 because of alkali leached from the concrete. The increase in gross beta activity has been slight; only 1 of the 21 samples collected contained activity above the 5.0 Bq/L action level. Automated sample-collection and flow-measurement equipment has been installed at IWMF and is being tested. The flume designed to electronically measure flow from the IWMF pads and underpads is too large to be of practical value for measuring most flows at this site. Modification of this system will be necessary. A CO{sub 2} bubbler system designed to reduce the pH of water from the pads is being tested at IWMF.

Isoprene (Is) emissions by plants represent a loss of carbon and energy resources leading to the initial hypothesis that fast growing pioneer species in secondary tropical forests allocate carbon primarily to growth at the expense of isoprenoid defenses. In this study, we quantified leaf isoprene and methanol emissions from the abundant pantropical pioneer tree species Vismia guianensis and ambient isoprene concentrations above a diverse secondary forest in the central Amazon. As photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was varied (0 to 3000āÆĀµmolāÆmā2āÆsā1) under standard leaf temperature (30āÆĀ°C), isoprene emissions from V. guianensis increased without saturation up to 80āÆnmolāÆmā2āÆsā1. A nonlinear increase inmoreĀ Ā» isoprene emissions with respect to net photosynthesis (Pn) resulted in the fraction of Pn dedicated to isoprene emissions increasing with light intensity (up to 2āÆ% of Pn). Emission responses to temperature under standard light conditions (PAR of 1000āÆĀµmolāÆmā2āÆsā1) resulted in the classic uncoupling of isoprene emissions (Topt,āisoāÆ>āÆ40āÆĀ°C) from net photosynthesis (Topt,āPnā=ā30.0ā32.5āÆĀ°C) with up to 7āÆ% of Pn emitted as isoprene at 40āÆĀ°C. Under standard environmental conditions of PAR and leaf temperature, young V. guianensis leaves showed high methanol emissions, low Pn, and low isoprene emissions. In contrast, mature leaves showed high Pn, high isoprene emissions, and low methanol emissions, highlighting the differential control of leaf phenology over methanol and isoprene emissions. High daytime ambient isoprene concentrations (11āÆppbv) were observed above a secondary Amazon rainforest, suggesting that isoprene emissions are common among neotropical pioneer species. The results are not consistent with the initial hypothesis and support a functional role of methanol during leaf expansion and the establishment of photosynthetic machinery and a protective role of isoprene for

Long-term, high-resolution wind turbine and wind power plant output data are important to assess the impact of wind power on grid operations and to derive meaningful statistics for better understanding of the variability of wind power. These data are used for many research and analysis activities consistent with the Wind Program mission.

A narrow beam fast filter radiometer has been developed for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. The radiometer is intended to operate alongside a lidar at ARM sites in a lidar/radiometer (LIRAD) configuration. The radiometer detects in three narrow bands at 8.62-, 10.86-, and 12.04-m central wavelengths in the atmospheric window. In addition, it has a variable field aperture that varies the radiance incident on the detector and also allows the field of view to be tailored to that of a lidar used in the LIRAD technique. The radiometer was deployed in the ARM Pilot Radiation Observation Experiment (PROBE) at Kavieng, Papua New Guinea in January-February 1993. The radiometer worked satisfactorily and appeared to be very stable. The radiometer was compared with a previous CSIRO radiometer and the improved performance of the ARM instrument was very evident. The ARM radiometer was also compared with a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Technology Laboratories (ETL) interferometer and gave closely equivalent radiances. The LIRAD method was used at Kavieng to obtain the optical properties of cirrus clouds. Continuous observations of water vapor path obtained by the NOAA ETL microwave radiometer were employed to allow for the strong tropical water vapor absorption and emission. Cirrus cells that developed on one morning, independent of other clouds, had measured infrared emittances varying from <0.1 to 1.0.

An analysis of the tropical Pacific Ocean from January 1983 to December 1992 is used to describe the annual cycle, with the main focus on subsurface temperature variations. Some analysis of ocean-current variations are also considered. Monthly mean fields are generated by assimilation of surface and subsurface temperature observations from ships and buoys. Comparisons with observations show that the analysis reasonably describes large-scale ocean thermal variations. Ocean currents are not assimilated and do not compare as well with observations. However, the ocean-current variations in the analysis are qualitatively similar to the known variations given by others. The authors use harmonic analysis to separate the mean annual cycle and estimate its contribution to total variance. The analysis shows that in most regions the annual cycle of subsurface thermal variations is larger than surface variations and that these variations are associated with changes in the depth of the thermocline. The annual cycle accounts for most of the total surface variance poleward of about 10{degrees} latitude but accounts for much less surface and subsurface total variance near the equator. Large subsurface annual cycles occur near 10{degrees}N associated with shifts of the intertropical convergence zone and along the equator associated with the annual cycle of equatorial wind stress. The hemispherically asymmetric depths of the 20{degrees}C isotherms indicate that the large Southern Hemisphere warm pool, which extends to near the equator, may play an important role in thermal variations on the equator. 51 refs., 18 figs., 1 tab.

The quantitative assessment of health impacts has been identified as a crucial feature for realising the full potential of health impact assessment (HIA). In settings where demographic and health data are notoriously scarce, but there is a broad range of ascertainable ecological, environmental, epidemiological and socioeconomic information, a diverse toolkit of data collection strategies becomes relevant for the mainly small-area impacts of interest. We present a modular, cross-sectional baseline health survey study design, which has been developed for HIA of industrial development projects in the humid tropics. The modular nature of our toolkit allows our methodology to be readily adapted to the prevailing eco-epidemiological characteristics of a given project setting. Central to our design is a broad set of key performance indicators, covering a multiplicity of health outcomes and determinants at different levels and scales. We present experience and key findings from our modular baseline health survey methodology employed in 14 selected sentinel sites within an iron ore mining project in the Republic of Guinea. We argue that our methodology is a generic example of rapid evidence assembly in difficult-to-reach localities, where improvement of the predictive validity of the assessment and establishment of a benchmark for longitudinal monitoring of project impacts and mitigation efforts is needed.

We report that global climate models predict a future of increased severity of drought in many tropical forests. Soil microbes are central to the balance of these systems as sources or sinks of atmospheric carbon (C), yet how they respond metabolically to drought is not well-understood. We simulated drought in the typically aseasonal Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, by intercepting precipitation falling through the forest canopy. This approach reduced soil moisture by 13% and water potential by 0.14 MPa (from -0.2 to -0.34). Previous results from this experiment have demonstrated that the diversity and composition of these soil microbial communitiesmoreĀ Ā» are sensitive to even small changes in soil water. Here, we show prolonged drought significantly alters the functional potential of the community and provokes a clear osmotic stress response, including the production of compatible solutes that increase intracellular C demand. Subsequently, a microbial population emerges with a greater capacity for extracellular enzyme production targeting macromolecular carbon. Significantly, some of these drought-induced functional shifts in the soil microbiota are attenuated by prior exposure to a short-term drought suggesting that acclimation may occur despite a lack of longer-term drought history.Ā«Ā less

The Oregon State University coupled upper ocean-atmosphere GCM has been shown to qualitatively simulate the Southern Oscillation. A composite analysis of the warm and cold events simulated in this 23-year integration has been performed. During the low phase of the Southern Oscillation, when warm anomalies occur in the eastern Pacific, the model simulates for the Atlantic region during March-May (1) a deficit of precipitation over the tropical South American continent, (2) Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico sea level pressure and sea surface temperature are in phase with the eastern Pacific anomalies, while those east of the Nordeste region are out of phase, and (3) northeast trade winds are anomalously weak and southwest trade winds are anomalously strong (as inferred from surface current anomalies). The anomalies in the oceanic processes are induced by perturbations in the atmospheric circulation over the Atlantic and are coupled to changes in the Walker circulation. During the high phase of the simulated Southern Oscillation, conditions in the atmosphere and ocean are essentially the reverse of the low phase. The model produces a response in the South American region during the opposing phases of the Southern Oscillation that is in general agreement with observations. The interannual variation of Nordeste rainfall is shown to be dominated by a few band-limited frequencies. These frequencies are found in the SST series of those regions of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans where strong correlations with Nordeste precipitation exist.

Although forest conservation activities particularly in thetropics offer significant potential for mitigating carbon emissions,these types of activities have faced obstacles in the policy arena causedby the difficulty in determining key elements of the project cycle,particularly the baseline. A baseline for forest conservation has twomain components: the projected land-use change and the correspondingcarbon stocks in the applicable pools such as vegetation, detritus,products and soil, with land-use change being the most difficult toaddress analytically. In this paper we focus on developing and comparingthree models, ranging from relatively simple extrapolations of pasttrends in land use based on simple drivers such as population growth tomore complex extrapolations of past trends using spatially explicitmodels of land-use change driven by biophysical and socioeconomicfactors. The three models of the latter category used in the analysis atregional scale are The Forest Area Change (FAC) model, the Land Use andCarbon Sequestration (LUCS) model, and the Geographical Modeling (GEOMOD)model. The models were used to project deforestation in six tropicalregions that featured different ecological and socioeconomic conditions,population dynamics, and uses of the land: (1) northern Belize; (2) SantaCruz State, Bolivia; (3) Parana State in Brazil; (4) Campeche, Mexico;(5) Chiapas, Mexico; and (6) Michoacan, Mexico. A comparison of all modeloutputs across all six regions shows that each model produced quitedifferent deforestation baseline. In general, the simplest FAC model,applied at the national administrative-unit scale, projected the highestamount of forest loss (four out of six) and the LUCS model the leastamount of loss (four out of five). Based on simulations of GEOMOD, wefound that readily observable physical and biological factors as well asdistance to areas of past disturbance were each about twice as importantas either sociological/demographic or economic

The nonlinear dependencies inherent to the historical K(sub)p data stream (1932-2003) are examined using mutual information and cumulant based cost as discriminating statistics. The discriminating statistics are compared with surrogate data streams that are constructed using the corrected amplitude adjustment Fourier transform (CAAFT) method and capture the linear properties of the original K(sub)p data. Differences are regularly seen in the discriminating statistics a few years prior to solar minima, while no differences are apparent at the time of solar maximum. These results suggest that the dynamics of the magnetosphere tend to be more linear at solar maximum than at solar minimum. The strong nonlinear dependencies tend to peak on a timescale around 40-50 hours and are statistically significant up to one week. Because the solar wind driver variables, VB(sub)s and dynamical pressure exhibit a much shorter decorrelation time for nonlinearities, the results seem to indicate that the nonlinearity is related to internal magnetospheric dynamics. Moreover, the timescales for the nonlinearity seem to be on the same order as that for storm/ring current relaxation. We suggest that the strong solar wind driving that occurs around solar maximum dominates the magnetospheric dynamics suppressing the internal magnetospheric nonlinearity. On the other hand, in the descending phase of the solar cycle just prior to solar minimum, when magnetospheric activity is weaker, the dynamics exhibit a significant nonlinear internal magnetospheric response that may be related to increased solar wind speed.

We report correlated data on nightside chorus waves and energetic electrons during two small storm periods: 1 November 2012 (Dst ā ā45) and 14 January 2013 (Dst ā ā18). The Van Allen Probes simultaneously observed strong chorus waves at locations L = 5.8 ā 6.3, with a lower frequency band 0.1ā0.5fce and a peak spectral density ~10ā4 nT2/Hz. In the same period, the fluxes and anisotropy of energetic (~10ā300 keV) electrons were greatly enhanced in the interval of large negative interplanetary magnetic field Bz. Using a bi-Maxwellian distribution to model the observed electron distribution, we perform ray tracing simulations tomoreĀ Ā» show that nightside chorus waves are indeed produced by the observed electron distribution with a peak growth for a field-aligned propagation approximately between 0.3fce and 0.4fce, at latitude <7Ā°. Moreover, chorus waves launched with initial normal angles either Īø < 90Ā° or > 90Ā° propagate along the field either northward or southward and then bounce back either away from Earth for a lower frequency or toward Earth for higher frequencies. The current results indicate that nightside chorus waves can be excited even during weak geomagnetic activities in cases of continuous injection associated with negative Bz. Furthermore, we examine a dayside event during a small storm C on 8 May 2014 (Dst ā ā45) and find that the observed anisotropic energetic electron distributions potentially contribute to the generation of dayside chorus waves, but this requires more thorough studies in the future.Ā«Ā less

We report correlated data on nightside chorus waves and energetic electrons during two small storm periods: 1 November 2012 (Dst ā ā45) and 14 January 2013 (Dst ā ā18). The Van Allen Probes simultaneously observed strong chorus waves at locations L = 5.8 ā 6.3, with a lower frequency band 0.1ā0.5fce and a peak spectral density ~10ā4 nT2/Hz. In the same period, the fluxes and anisotropy of energetic (~10ā300 keV) electrons were greatly enhanced in the interval of large negative interplanetary magnetic field Bz. Using a bi-Maxwellian distribution to model the observed electron distribution, we perform ray tracing simulations to show that nightside chorus waves are indeed produced by the observed electron distribution with a peak growth for a field-aligned propagation approximately between 0.3fce and 0.4fce, at latitude <7Ā°. Moreover, chorus waves launched with initial normal angles either Īø < 90Ā° or > 90Ā° propagate along the field either northward or southward and then bounce back either away from Earth for a lower frequency or toward Earth for higher frequencies. The current results indicate that nightside chorus waves can be excited even during weak geomagnetic activities in cases of continuous injection associated with negative Bz. Furthermore, we examine a dayside event during a small storm C on 8 May 2014 (Dst ā ā45) and find that the observed anisotropic energetic electron distributions potentially contribute to the generation of dayside chorus waves, but this requires more thorough studies in the future.

An attempt is made to formulate the technical approach to the problem of three dimensional wind driven currents under hurricane conditions. Reference is given to the splendid piece of research on the subject by Forristall (1974) Three-dimensional structure of storm-generated currents, J. Geophys. Res. 79, 2721-2727. The present approach, although not entirely satisfactory, seems to be an improvement on the work by Forristall, but this remains to be verified with future work, including the use of measured data. An improvement could be made if there were some better way of representing the shear stress as a function of the wind velocity (wind speed and direction). It seems that the wind velocity relative to the water motion is what matters, but in turbulent flow the surface value is not well defined. This difficulty leaves one with an unbalanced vortex stretching which accounts for the spin-up of the fluid, but the details of that are lacking. Essentially, it appears that it is feasible to modify Forristall's approach to obtain a more realistic representation of the structure of the boundary layer to take into account the turbulent nature of the flow.

Activity Based Costing (ABC) is method for developing cost estimates in which the project is subdivided into discrete, quantifiable activities or a work unit. This chapter outlines the Activity Based Costing method and discusses applicable uses of ABC.

We present multi-frequency (1-8 GHz) Very Large Array data, combined with VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph integral field unit data and Hubble Space Telescope imaging, of a z = 0.085 radio-quiet type 2 quasar (with L {sub 1.4} {sub GHz} ā 5 Ć 10{sup 23} W Hz{sup ā1} and L {sub AGN} ā 2 Ć 10{sup 45} erg s{sup ā1}). Due to the morphology of its emission-line region, the target (J1430+1339) has been referred to as the ''Teacup'' active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the literature. We identify ''bubbles'' of radio emission that are extended ā10-12 kpc to both the east and west of the nucleus. The edge of the brighter eastern bubble is co-spatial with an arc of luminous ionized gas. We also show that the ''Teacup'' AGN hosts a compact radio structure, located ā0.8 kpc from the core position, at the base of the eastern bubble. This radio structure is co-spatial with an ionized outflow with an observed velocity of v = ā740 km s{sup ā1}. This is likely to correspond to a jet, or possibly a quasar wind, interacting with the interstellar medium at this position. The large-scale radio bubbles appear to be inflated by the central AGN, which indicates that the AGN can also interact with the gas on ā³ 10 kpc scales. Our study highlights that even when a quasar is formally ''radio-quiet'' the radio emission can be extremely effective for observing the effects of AGN feedback.

Conversion of tropical forest to agricultural land and pasture has reduced forest extent and the provision of ecosystem services, including watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration. Forest conservation and reforestation can restore those ecosystem services. We have assessed forest species patterns, quantified deforestation and reforestation rates, and projected future baseline carbon emissions and removal in Amazon tropical rainforest at La Selva Central, Peru. The research area is a 4800 km{sup 2} buffer zone around the Parque Nacional Yanachaga-Chemillen, Bosque de Proteccion San Matias-San Carlos, and the Reserva Comunal Yanesha. A planned project for the period 2006-2035 would conserve 4000 ha of forest in a proposed 7000 ha Area de Conservacion Municipale de Chontabamba and establish 5600 ha of natural regeneration and 1400 ha of native species plantations, laid out in fajas de enriquecimiento (contour plantings), to reforest 7000 ha of agricultural land. Forest inventories of seven sites covering 22.6 ha in primary forest and 17 sites covering 16.5 ha in secondary forest measured 17,073 trees of diameter {ge} 10 cm. The 24 sites host trees of 512 species, 267 genera, and 69 families. We could not identify the family of 7% of the trees or the scientific species of 21% of the trees. Species richness is 346 in primary forest and 257 in the secondary forest. In primary forest, 90% of aboveground biomass resides in old-growth species. Conversely, in secondary forest, 66% of aboveground biomass rests in successional species. The density of trees of diameter {ge} 10 cm is 366 trees ha{sup -1} in primary forest and 533 trees ha{sup -1} in secondary forest, although the average diameter is 24 {+-} 15 cm in primary forest and 17 {+-} 8 cm in secondary forest. Using Amazon forest biomass equations and wood densities for 117 species, aboveground biomass is 240 {+-} 30 t ha{sup -1} in the primary sites and 90 {+-} 10 t ha{sup -1} in the

The disclosure is directed to an active magnetic regenerator apparatus and method. Brayton, Stirling, Ericsson, and Carnot cycles and the like may be utilized in an active magnetic regenerator to provide efficient refrigeration over relatively large temperature ranges.

The right to refuse retail wheeling requests is one of the cornerstones of a utility's monopoly power. Utilities have fought staunchly to preserve it, most recently in preventing retail wheeling from becoming an important issue in the congressional debate over deregulation; the Energy Policy Act of 1992 steered clear of it. For the present, the prohibition of retail wheeling gives utilities enormous power over the retail electric power market. The ability to refuse retail wheeling requests, of course, prevents retail customers from buying power from third parties. This enables a utility to sell retail customers all the power it can generate, at a price that covers its cost plus an allowed return-even if its price exceeds that of power available in the wholesale market. The denial of retail wheeling thus protects a utility's inefficiencies, whose price is ultimately shouldered onto customers through cost-plus electric rates. Allowing retail wheeling would remove the foundation for much of the current monopoly power that utilities enjoy. Third parties could sell power to a utility's retail customers, since the utility would be required to wheel it. Retail customers would be able to bypass the local distribution utility to buy power from the cheapest source available. Market forces would drive pricing rather than the cost-plus ratemaking process. A utility whose electric rates were above market would have to meet the competitive price or lose sales.

6414 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by the Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396. By acceptance of this article, the publisher recognizes that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this

In this paper we explore the structure and semantic properties of the entities stored in statistical databases. We call such entities statistical objects'' (SOs) and propose a new statistical object representation model,'' based on a graph representation. We identify a number of SO representational problems in current models and propose a methodology for their solution. 11 refs.

Activated carbon aerogels were obtained from the CO{sub 2} activation of the carbon aerogels. The adsorption isotherms of nitrogen on activated carbon aerogels at 77 K were measured and analyzed by the high-resolution {alpha}{sub s} plot to evaluate their porosities. The {alpha}{sub s} plot showed an upward deviation from linearity below {alpha}{sub s} = 0.5, suggesting that the presence of micropores becomes more predominant with the extent of the activation. Activation increased noticeably the pore volume and the surface area (the maximum value: 2600 m{sup 2}.g{sup -1}) without change of the basic network structure of primary particles. Activated carbon aerogels had a bimodal pore size distribution of uniform micropores and mesopores. 16 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

This application describes methods and expression constructs for producing activatable recombinant adenovirus proteinases. Purified activatable recombinant adenovirus proteinases and methods of purification are described. Activated adenovirus proteinases and methods for obtaining activated adenovirus proteinases are further included. Isolated peptide cofactors of adenovirus proteinase activity, methods of purifying and identifying said peptide cofactors are also described. Antibodies immunoreactive with adenovirus proteinases, immunospecific antibodies, and methods for preparing them are also described. Other related methods and materials are also described.

ALS Activity Reports Print These hard-copy annual reports were produced from 1993-2006. They illustrated the depth and breadth of the ALS scientific program with a selection of research results. They also summarized operations and ongoing R&D, highlighted educational outreach efforts and special events, and provided yearly documentation of the beamlines and publications. The Activity Report was replaced in 2007 by ALS Spectrum. The reports for 1996-2006 are available here. Activity Report

Activity Reports Print These hard-copy annual reports were produced from 1993-2006. They illustrated the depth and breadth of the ALS scientific program with a selection of research results. They also summarized operations and ongoing R&D, highlighted educational outreach efforts and special events, and provided yearly documentation of the beamlines and publications. The Activity Report was replaced in 2007 by ALS Spectrum. The reports for 1996-2006 are available here. Activity Report 2006

Activity Reports Print These hard-copy annual reports were produced from 1993-2006. They illustrated the depth and breadth of the ALS scientific program with a selection of research results. They also summarized operations and ongoing R&D, highlighted educational outreach efforts and special events, and provided yearly documentation of the beamlines and publications. The Activity Report was replaced in 2007 by ALS Spectrum. The reports for 1996-2006 are available here. Activity Report 2006

Activity Reports Print These hard-copy annual reports were produced from 1993-2006. They illustrated the depth and breadth of the ALS scientific program with a selection of research results. They also summarized operations and ongoing R&D, highlighted educational outreach efforts and special events, and provided yearly documentation of the beamlines and publications. The Activity Report was replaced in 2007 by ALS Spectrum. The reports for 1996-2006 are available here. Activity Report 2006

Fly ash is activated by heating a screened magnetic fraction of the ash in a steam atmosphere and then reducing, oxidizing and again reducing the hydrothermally treated fraction. The activated fly ash can be used as a carbon monoxide disproportionating catalyst useful in the production of hydrogen and methane.

Fly ash is activated by heating a screened magnetic fraction of the ash in a steam atmosphere and then reducing, oxidizing and again reducing the hydrothermally treated fraction. The activated fly ash can be used as a carbon monoxide disproportionating catalyst useful in the production of hydrogen and methane.

An active optical zoom system changes the magnification (or effective focal length) of an optical imaging system by utilizing two or more active optics in a conventional optical system. The system can create relatively large changes in system magnification with very small changes in the focal lengths of individual active elements by leveraging the optical power of the conventional optical elements (e.g., passive lenses and mirrors) surrounding the active optics. The active optics serve primarily as variable focal-length lenses or mirrors, although adding other aberrations enables increased utility. The active optics can either be LC SLMs, used in a transmissive optical zoom system, or DMs, used in a reflective optical zoom system. By appropriately designing the optical system, the variable focal-length lenses or mirrors can provide the flexibility necessary to change the overall system focal length (i.e., effective focal length), and therefore magnification, that is normally accomplished with mechanical motion in conventional zoom lenses. The active optics can provide additional flexibility by allowing magnification to occur anywhere within the FOV of the system, not just on-axis as in a conventional system.

It has been proposed that the large soil carbon (C) stocks of humid tropical forests result predominantly from C stabilization by reactive minerals, whereas oxygen (O2) limitation of decomposition has received much less attention. We examined the importance of these factors in explaining patterns of C stocks and turnover in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, using radiocarbon (14C) measurements of contemporary and archived samples. Samples from ridge, slope, and valley positions spanned three soil orders (Ultisol, Oxisol, Inceptisol) representative of humid tropical forests, and differed in texture, reactive metal content, O2 availability, and root biomass. Mineral-associated C comprised themoreĀ Ā» large majority (87 Ā± 2%, n = 30) of total soil C. Turnover of most mineral-associated C (66 Ā± 2%) was rapid (11 to 26 years; mean and SE: 18 Ā± 3 years) in 25 of 30 soil samples across surface horizons (0ā10 and 10ā20 cm depths) and all topographic positions, independent of variation in reactive metal concentrations and clay content. Passive C with centennialāmillennial turnover was typically much less abundant (34 Ā± 3%), even at 10ā20 cm depths. Carbon turnover times and concentrations significantly increased with concentrations of reduced iron (Fe(II)) across all samples, suggesting that O2 availability may have limited the decomposition of mineral-associated C over decadal scales. Steady-state inputs of mineral-associated C were statistically similar among the three topographic positions, and could represent 10ā25% of annual litter production. Observed trends in mineral-associated Ī14C over time could not be fit using the single-pool model used in many other studies, which generated contradictory relationships between turnover and Ī14C as compared with a more realistic two-pool model. The large C fluxes in surface and near-surface soils documented here are supported by findings from paired 14C studies in other types of ecosystems, and

It has been proposed that the large soil carbon (C) stocks of humid tropical forests result predominantly from C stabilization by reactive minerals, whereas oxygen (O2) limitation of decomposition has received much less attention. We examined the importance of these factors in explaining patterns of C stocks and turnover in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, using radiocarbon (14C) measurements of contemporary and archived samples. Samples from ridge, slope, and valley positions spanned three soil orders (Ultisol, Oxisol, Inceptisol) representative of humid tropical forests, and differed in texture, reactive metal content, O2 availability, and root biomass. Mineral-associated C comprised themoreĀ Ā» large majority (87 Ā± 2%, n = 30) of total soil C. Turnover of most mineral-associated C (74 Ā± 4%) was rapid (9 to 29 years, mean and SE 20 Ā± 2 years) in 25 of 30 soil samples across surface horizons (0ā10 and 10ā20 cm depths) and all topographic positions, independent of variation in reactive metal concentrations and clay content. Passive C with centennial ā millennial turnover was much less abundant (26%), even at 10ā20 cm depths. Carbon turnover times and concentrations significantly increased with concentrations of reduced iron (Fe(II)) across all samples, suggesting that O2 availability may have limited the decomposition of mineral associated C over decadal scales. Steady-state inputs of mineral-associated C were similar among the three topographic positions, and could represent 10ā30% of annual litterfall production (estimated by doubling aboveground litterfall). Observed trends in mineral-associated Ī14C over time could not be fit using the single pool model used in many other studies, which generated contradictory relationships between turnover and Ī14C as compared with a more realistic constrained two-pool model. The large C fluxes in surface and near-surface soils implied by our data suggest that other studies using single-pool Ī14C

Deployment Activities Printable Version Bookmark and Share Regional Resource Centers Economic Development Siting Deployment Activities Recent years have seen major growth in wind energy, and deployment projections indicate this trend will continue for all parts of the wind industry, from small distributed and community wind projects to massive land-based and offshore utility-scale facilities. Record numbers of Americans see wind energy as an important contributor to a secure and clean energy

Low activation ferritic alloys, specifically bainitic and martensitic stainless steels, are described for use in the production of structural components for nuclear fusion reactors. They are designed specifically to achieve low activation characteristics suitable for efficient waste disposal. The alloys essentially exclude molybdenum, nickel, nitrogen and niobium. Strength is achieved by substituting vanadium, tungsten, and/or tantalum in place of the usual molybdenum content in such alloys.

Low activation ferritic alloys, specifically bainitic and martensitic stainless steels, are described for use in the production of structural components for nuclear fusion reactors. They are designed specifically to achieve low activation characteristics suitable for efficient waste disposal. The alloys essentially exclude molybdenum, nickel, nitrogen and niobium. Strength is achieved by substituting vanadium, tungsten, and/or tantalum in place of the usual molybdenum content in such alloys.

Home Heating Systems Ā» Active Solar Heating Active Solar Heating This North Carolina home gets most of its space heating from the passive solar design, but the solar thermal system supplies both domestic hot water and a secondary radiant floor heating system. | Photo courtesy of Jim Schmid Photography, NREL This North Carolina home gets most of its space heating from the passive solar design, but the solar thermal system supplies both domestic hot water and a secondary radiant floor heating

This report discusses the quality assurance activities needed to raise the Quality Level of Risk Analysis in a Virtual Environment (RAVEN) from Quality Level 3 to Quality Level 2. This report also describes the general RAVEN quality assurance activities. For improving the quality, reviews of code changes have been instituted, more parts of testing have been automated, and improved packaging has been created. For upgrading the quality level, requirements have been created and the workflow has been improved.

Report to Congress August 2014 United States Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585 Energy Conservation Standards Activities Report to Congress | Page i Message from the Assistant Secretary I am pleased to provide you with the semi-annual Implementation Report on Energy Conservation Standards Activities of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This report meets the requirements of Section 141 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) and Sections 305 and 321 of the Energy Independence and

Work Force Restructuring Activities December 10, 2008 Note: Current updates are in bold # Planned Site/Contractor HQ Approved Separations Status General * LM has finalized the compilation of contractor management team separation data for the end of FY07 actuals and end of FY08 and FY09 projections. LM has submitted to Congress the FY 2007 Annual Report on contractor work force restructuring activities. The report has been posted to the LM website. *LM conducted a DOE complex-wide data call to

Activated carbon particles for use as iodine trapping material are impregnated with a mixture of selected iodine and potassium compounds to improve the iodine retention properties of the carbon. The I/K ratio is maintained at less than about 1 and the pH is maintained at above about 8.0. The iodine retention of activated carbon previously treated with or coimpregnated with triethylenediamine can also be improved by this technique. Suitable flame retardants can be added to raise the ignition temperature of the carbon to acceptable standards.

Activity Bandwidth and Transfer Activity Data Rate vs. File Size The graph below shows the bandwidth for individual file transfers for one day. The graph also gives a quick overview of the traffic and maximum bandwidth and file size for a given day. Historical yearly peak days. Daily Rate vs. Size Aggregate Transfer Bandwidth This graph shows the aggregate transfer rate to the storage systems as a function of time of day. The red line is the peak bandwidth observed within each one minute

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Program manages several transportation regulatory activities established by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), as amended by the Energy Conservation Reauthorization Act of 1998, EPAct 2005, and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA).

An active bridge oscillator is formed from a differential amplifier where positive feedback is a function of the impedance of one of the gain elements and a relatively low value common emitter resistance. This use of the nonlinear transistor parameter h stabilizes the output and eliminates the need for ALC circuits common to other bridge oscillators.

A detector of bursts of neutrons from a deuterium-deuteron reaction includes a quantity of arsenic adjacent a gamma detector such as a scintillator and photomultiplier tube. The arsenic is activated by the 2.5-MeV neutrons to release gamma radiation which is detected to give a quantitative representation of detected neutrons.

A detector of bursts of neutrons from a deuterium-deuteron reaction includes a quantity of arsenic adjacent a gamma detector such as a scintillator and photomultiplier tube. The arsenic is activated by the 2.5 Mev neutrons to release gamma radiation which is detected to give a quantitative representation of detected neutrons.

To improve understanding of the convective processes key to the Madden-Julian-Oscillation (MJO) initiation, the Dynamics of the MJO (DYNAMO) and Atmospheric Radiation Measurement MJO Investigation Experiment (AMIE) collected four months of observations from three radars, the S-band Polarization Radar (S-Pol), the C-band Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research & Teaching Radar (SMART-R), and Ka-band Zenith Radar (KAZR) on Addu Atoll in the tropical Indian Ocean. This study compares the measurements from the S-Pol and SMART-R to those from the more sensitive KAZR in order to characterize the hydrometeor detection capabilities of the two scanning precipitation radars. Frequency comparisons for precipitating convective clouds and non-precipitating high clouds agree much better than non-precipitating low clouds for both scanning radars due to issues in ground clutter. On average, SMART-R underestimates convective and high cloud tops by 0.3 to 1.1 km, while S-Pol underestimates cloud tops by less than 0.4 km for these cloud types. S-Pol shows excellent dynamic range in detecting various types of clouds and therefore its data are well suited for characterizing the evolution of the 3D cloud structures, complementing the profiling KAZR measurements. For detecting non-precipitating low clouds and thin cirrus clouds, KAZR remains the most reliable instrument. However, KAZR is attenuated in heavy precipitation and underestimates cloud top height due to rainfall attenuation 4.3% of the time during DYNAMO/AMIE. An empirical method to correct the KAZR cloud top heights is described, and a merged radar dataset is produced to provide improved cloud boundary estimates, microphysics and radiative heating retrievals.

Here, cloud properties have been simulated with a new double-moment microphysics scheme under the framework of the single-column version of NCAR Community Atmospheric Model version 3 (CAM3). For comparison, the same simulation was made with the standard single-moment microphysics scheme of CAM3. Results from both simulations compared favorably with observations during the Tropical Warm PoolāInternational Cloud Experiment by the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program in terms of the temporal variation and vertical distribution of cloud fraction and cloud condensate. Major differences between the two simulations are in the magnitude and distribution of ice water content within the mixed-phase cloud during the monsoon period, though the total frozen water (snow plus ice) contents are similar. The ice mass content in the mixed-phase cloud from the new scheme is larger than that from the standard scheme, and ice water content extends 2 km further downward, which is in better agreement with observations. The dependence of the frozen water mass fraction on temperature from the new scheme is also in better agreement with available observations. Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) from the simulation with the new scheme is, in general, larger than that with the standard scheme, while the surface downward longwave radiation is similar. Sensitivity tests suggest that different treatments of the ice crystal effective radius contribute significantly to the difference in the calculations of TOA OLR, in addition to cloud water path. Numerical experiments show that cloud properties in the new scheme can respond reasonably to changes in the concentration of aerosols and emphasize the importance of correctly simulating aerosol effects in climate models for aerosol-cloud interactions. Further evaluation, especially for ice cloud properties based on in-situ data, is needed.

Here, cloud properties have been simulated with a new double-moment microphysics scheme under the framework of the single-column version of NCAR Community Atmospheric Model version 3 (CAM3). For comparison, the same simulation was made with the standard single-moment microphysics scheme of CAM3. Results from both simulations compared favorably with observations during the Tropical Warm PoolāInternational Cloud Experiment by the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program in terms of the temporal variation and vertical distribution of cloud fraction and cloud condensate. Major differences between the two simulations are in the magnitude and distribution of ice water content within themoreĀ Ā» mixed-phase cloud during the monsoon period, though the total frozen water (snow plus ice) contents are similar. The ice mass content in the mixed-phase cloud from the new scheme is larger than that from the standard scheme, and ice water content extends 2 km further downward, which is in better agreement with observations. The dependence of the frozen water mass fraction on temperature from the new scheme is also in better agreement with available observations. Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) from the simulation with the new scheme is, in general, larger than that with the standard scheme, while the surface downward longwave radiation is similar. Sensitivity tests suggest that different treatments of the ice crystal effective radius contribute significantly to the difference in the calculations of TOA OLR, in addition to cloud water path. Numerical experiments show that cloud properties in the new scheme can respond reasonably to changes in the concentration of aerosols and emphasize the importance of correctly simulating aerosol effects in climate models for aerosol-cloud interactions. Further evaluation, especially for ice cloud properties based on in-situ data, is needed.Ā«Ā less

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center Activity Report describes scientific and technological progress and achievements in LANSCE Division during the period of 1995 to 1998. This report includes a message from the Division Director, an overview of LANSCE, sponsor overviews, research highlights, advanced projects and facility upgrades achievements, experimental and user program accomplishments, news and events, and a list of publications. The research highlights cover the areas of condensed-matter science and engineering, accelerator science, nuclear science, and radiography. This report also contains a compact disk that includes an overview, the Activity Report itself, LANSCE operations progress reports for 1996 and 1997, experiment reports from LANSCE users, as well as a search capability.

The present invention is an active microchannel heat exchanger with an active heat source and with microchannel architecture. The microchannel heat exchanger has (a) an exothermic reaction chamber; (b) an exhaust chamber; and (c) a heat exchanger chamber in thermal contact with the exhaust chamber, wherein (d) heat from the exothermic reaction chamber is convected by an exothermic reaction exhaust through the exhaust chamber and by conduction through a containment wall to the working fluid in the heat exchanger chamber thereby raising a temperature of the working fluid. The invention is particularly useful as a liquid fuel vaporizer and/or a steam generator for fuel cell power systems, and as a heat source for sustaining endothermic chemical reactions and initiating exothermic reactions.

Webmaster Please enter your name and email address in the boxes provided, then type your message below. When you are finished, click "Send Message." NOTE: If you enter your e-mail address incorrectly, we will be unable to reply. Your name: Your email address: Your message: Send Message Printable Version International Activities Home Bilateral Partnerships Multilateral Partnerships Assessments & Tools Working with Us Did you find what you needed? Yes 1 No 0 Thank you for your

Version 03 EASY-2010 (European Activation System) consists of a wide range of codes, data and documentation all aimed at satisfying the objective of calculating the response of materials irradiated in a neutron flux. The main difference from the previous version is the upper energy limit, which has increased from 20 to 60 MeV. It is designed to investigate both fusion devices and accelerator based materials test facilities that will act as intense sources of high-energymoreĀ Ā» neutrons causing significant activation of the surrounding materials. The very general nature of the calculational method and the data libraries means that it is applicable (with some reservations) to all situations (e.g. fission reactors or neutron sources) where materials are exposed to neutrons below 60 MeV. EASY can be divided into two parts: data and code development tools and user tools and data. The former are required to develop the latter, but EASY users only need to be able to use the inventory code FISPACT and be aware of the contents of the EAF library (the data source). The complete EASY package contains the FISPACT-2007 inventory code, the EAF-2003, EAF-2005, EAF-2007 and EAF-2010 libraries, and the EASY User Interface for the Window version. The activation package EASY-2010 is the result of significant development to extend the upper energy range from 20 to 60 MeV so that it is capable of being used for IFMIF calculations. The EAF-2010 library contains 66,256 reactions, almost five times more than in EAF-2003 (12,617). Deuteron-induced and proton-induced cross section libraries are also included, and can be used with EASY to enable calculations of the activation due to deuterons and proton [2].Ā«Ā less

Activity Political Activity Policy Flash 2011-2, issued October 5, 2010, provided information on the prohibition on using Government property and facilities to conduct political activities. Recently, there was an alleged misuse of the Department of Energy (DOE) e-mail system to conduct political activities by a DOE contractor. This Policy Flash serves as a reminder on political activities in the workplace during this election season. Government property and facilities are not authorized for

The US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear and Facility Safety provides nuclear safety policy, independent technical evaluation, and technical support. A summary of these activities is provided in this report. These include: (1) changing the mission of the former production facilities to storage and waste management; (2) stabilizing nuclear materials not recycled due to production cessation or interruptions; (3) reformulating the authorization basis for existing facilities to convert to a standards based approach for operations consistent with modern expectations; and (4) implementing a modern regulatory framework for nuclear facilities. Enforcement of the Price-Anderson Amendments Act is also reported.

Activated alumina is used as a trapping media to remove trace quantities of UF{sub 6} from process vent streams. The current uranium recovery method employs concentrated nitric acid which destroys the alumina pellets and forms a sludge which is a storage and disposal problem. A recently developed technique using a distilled water rinse followed by three dilute acid rinses removes on average 97% of the uranium, and leaves the pellets intact with crush strength and surface area values comparable with new material. Trapping tests confirm the effectiveness of the recycled alumina as UF{sub 6} trapping media.

The LBNL Table of Isotopes website provides primary nuclearinformation to>150,000 different users annually. We have developedthe covert technology to identify users by IP address and country todetermine the kinds of nuclear information they are retrieving. Wepropose to develop pattern recognition software to provide an earlywarning system to identify Unusual nuclear activity by country or regionSpecific nuclear/radioactive material interests We have monitored nuclearinformation for over two years and provide this information to the FBIand LLNL. Intelligence is gleaned from the website log files. Thisproposal would expand our reporting capabilities.

A neutron activation analysis system for monitoring a generally fluid media, such as slurries, solutions, and fluidized powders, including two separate conduit loops for circulating fluid samples within the range of radiation sources and detectors is described. Associated with the first loop is a neutron source that emits s high flux of slow and thermal neutrons. The second loop employs a fast neutron source, the flux from which is substantially free of thermal neutrons. Adjacent to both loops are gamma counters for spectrographic determination of the fluid constituents. Other gsmma sources and detectors are arranged across a portion of each loop for deterMining the fluid density. (Official Gazette)

This report presents a three-level approach for estimation of sediment transport to provide an assessment of potential erosion risk for sites at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) that are posted for radiological purposes and where migration is suspected or known to occur due to storm runoff. Based on the assessed risk, the appropriate level of effort can be determined for analysis of radiological surveys, field experiments to quantify erosion and transport rates, and long-term monitoring. The method is demonstrated at contaminated sites, including Plutonium Valley, Shasta, Smoky, and T-1. The Pacific Southwest Interagency Committee (PSIAC) procedure is selected as the Level 1 analysis tool. The PSIAC method provides an estimation of the total annual sediment yield based on factors derived from the climatic and physical characteristics of a watershed. If the results indicate low risk, then further analysis is not warranted. If the Level 1 analysis indicates high risk or is deemed uncertain, a Level 2 analysis using the Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) is proposed. In addition, if a sediment yield for a storm event rather than an annual sediment yield is needed, then the proposed Level 2 analysis should be performed. MUSLE only provides sheet and rill erosion estimates. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) provides storm peak runoff rate and storm volumes, the inputs necessary for MUSLE. Channel Sediment Transport (CHAN-SED) I and II models are proposed for estimating sediment deposition or erosion in a channel reach from a storm event. These models require storm hydrograph associated sediment concentration and bed load particle size distribution data. When the Level 2 analysis indicates high risk for sediment yield and associated contaminant migration or when there is high uncertainty in the Level 2 results, the sites can be further evaluated with a Level 3 analysis using more complex

In 1989 and 1990, the Middlesex County Utilities Authority (MCUA) conducted a facilities planning study to expand the capacity of the existing 5.2-m{sup 3}/s (120-mgd) treatment plant for treating projected wastewater flows up to the year 2020. As a part of this study, MCUA stress-tested the existing plant facilities - specifically, the UNOX activated sludge reactors and aerobic sludge digesters - to determine the dependable treatment capacity of each unit process. Before establishing expansion needs, it was necessary to determine the real treatment capacities of existing treatment plant facilities and process units as compared to plant design criteria and the effectiveness of the existing treatment systems and their operations, increased plant capacity, and reduced future plant expansion needs and associated construction costs.

The Hadley circulation, a prominent circulation feature characterized by rising air near the Equator and sinking air in the subtropics, defines the position of dry subtropical areas and is a fundamental regulator of the earthās energy and momentum budgets. The character of the Hadley circulation, and its related precipitation regimes, exhibits variation and change in response to both climate variability and radiative forcing changes. The strength and position of the Hadley circulation change from year to year paced by El NiĆ±o and La NiĆ±a events. Over the last few decades of the twentieth century, the Hadley cell has expanded poleward in both hemispheres, with changes in atmospheric composition (including stratospheric ozone depletion and greenhouse gas increases) thought to have contributed to its expansion. This article introduces the basic phenomenology and driving mechanism of the Hadley circulation and discusses its variations under both natural and anthropogenic climate forcings.

DOE 2006 Report 4- Section Four ALARA Activities at DOE 4 ALARA Activities at DOE In past years, the published annual report has included descriptions of ALARA activities at DOE for the purposes of sharing strategies and techniques that have shown promise in the reduction of radiation exposure. For 2006, these ALARA activity descriptions have been moved to the HSS REMS Web site to facilitate the dissemination among DOE radiation protection managers and others interested in these project

waste handling personnel review a procedure as part of prestart activities at WIPP. WIPP UPDATE: June 22, 2016 Prestart Activities Continue at WIPP Prestart activities are continuing at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) as employees verify and validate operating procedures in preparation for resuming transuranic waste emplacement operations at WIPP. On June 1 WIPP workers began the phase of prestart activities referred to as Cold Operations. Cold Operations includes verifying adequacy of

International Activities International Activities International Activities The International Program assists the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) in identifying technologies and strategies for waste processing, groundwater and soil remediation, spent nuclear fuel and surplus nuclear material disposition, and facility deactivation and decommissioning. The International Program seeks to transform advances in science and engineering into practical solutions for environmental remediation.

We investigate intensity variations and energy deposition in five coronal loops in active region cores. These were selected for their strong variability in the AIA/SDO 94 Ć intensity channel. We isolate the hot Fe XVIII and Fe XXI components of the 94 Ć and 131 Ć by modeling and subtracting the 'warm' contributions to the emission. HMI/SDO data allow us to focus on 'inter-moss' regions in the loops. The detailed evolution of the inter-moss intensity time series reveals loops that are impulsively heated in a mode compatible with a nanoflare storm, with a spike in the hot 131 Ć signals leading and the other five EUV emission channels following in progressive cooling order. A sharp increase in electron temperature tends to follow closely after the hot 131 Ć signal confirming the impulsive nature of the process. A cooler process of growing emission measure follows more slowly. The Fourier power spectra of the hot 131 Ć signals, when averaged over the five loops, present three scaling regimes with break frequencies near 0.1 min{sup ā1} and 0.7 min{sup ā1}. The low frequency regime corresponds to 1/f noise; the intermediate indicates a persistent scaling process and the high frequencies show white noise. Very similar results are found for the energy dissipation in a 2D 'hybrid' shell model of loop magneto-turbulence, based on reduced magnetohydrodynamics, that is compatible with nanoflare statistics. We suggest that such turbulent dissipation is the energy source for our loops.

OAK-B135 Final report from the University of California San Diego for an ongoing research project that was moved to Brookhaven National Laboratory where proposed work will be completed. The research uses measurements made by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program to quantify the effects of aerosols and clouds on the Earth's energy balance in the climatically important Tropical Western Pacific.

govMeasurementsPhotosynthetically Active Radiation ARM Data Discovery Browse Data Comments? We would love to hear from you! Send us a note below or call us at 1-888-ARM-DATA. Send Measurement : Photosynthetically Active Radiation Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) designates the spectral range (wave band) of solar radiation from 400 to 700 nanometers that photosynthetic organisms are able to use in the process of photosynthesis Categories Radiometric Instruments The above measurement is

Activity Last 8 Days Transfer Activity Last 8 Days These graphs show the transfer activity statistics for the past eight days with the most recent day shown first. BE CAREFUL because the graphs are autoscaling - check the scales on each axis before you compare graphs. Transfers started/in progress (Both Systems) Transfers started/in progress (Both Systems) Transfers started/in progress (Both Systems) Transfers started/in progress (Both Systems) Transfers started/in progress (Both Systems)

Social Activities Argonne knows that achieving a positive work-life balance means taking time for social activities. The lab offers a variety of on-site clubs, sports activities and outreach opportunities for you to make the most of your non-work time. Participating on campus gives you the option of networking with colleagues and becoming part of a diverse community of fellow scientists, engineers and support staff who enjoy working and playing - together. Argonne clubs range from special

Services Ā» Conflict Prevention and Resolution Ā» Outreach Activities Outreach Activities The O mediation 2.jpg CPR staff engages in various outreach activities within the DOE complex and the greater federal ADR community to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution techniques. To that end, OCPR staff are members of the Interagency Alternative Dispute Resolution Working Group (IADRWG) Workplace Conflict Management Section ("Workplace Section"). This group provides guidance on

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a potent exotoxin produced by the Staphylococcus aureus. This toxin is classified as a superantigen because of its ability to directly bind with MHC-II class molecules followed by activation of a large proportion of T cells bearing specific VĪ²-T cell receptors. Commonly associated with classic food poisoning, SEB has also been shown to induce toxic shock syndrome, and is also considered to be a potential biological warfare agent because it is easily aerosolized. In the present study, we assessed the ability of indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and one of its byproducts, 3,3ā²-diindolylmethane (DIM), found in cruciferous vegetables, to counteract the effects of SEB-induced activation of T cells in mice. Both I3C and DIM were found to decrease the activation, proliferation, and cytokine production by SEB-activated VĪ²8{sup +} T cells in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, inhibitors of histone deacetylase class I (HDAC-I), but not class II (HDAC-II), showed significant decrease in SEB-induced T cell activation and cytokine production, thereby suggesting that epigenetic modulation plays a critical role in the regulation of SEB-induced inflammation. In addition, I3C and DIM caused a decrease in HDAC-I but not HDAC-II in SEB-activated T cells, thereby suggesting that I3C and DIM may inhibit SEB-mediated T cell activation by acting as HDAC-I inhibitors. These studies not only suggest for the first time that plant-derived indoles are potent suppressors of SEB-induced T cell activation and cytokine storm but also that they may mediate these effects by acting as HDAC inhibitors. - Highlights: ā¢ I3C and DIM reduce SEB-induced T cell activation and inflammatory cytokines. ā¢ Inhibiting class I HDACs reduces T cell activation and inflammatory cytokines. ā¢ Inhibiting class II HDACs increases T cell activation and inflammatory cytokines. ā¢ I3C and DIM selectively reduce mRNA expression of class I HDACs. ā¢ Novel use and mechanism to counteract

2009 was an incredibly exciting year for light sources at Brookhaven. The National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) hosted more than 2,200 visiting researchers, who, along with the about 50 members of our scientific staff, produced a total of 957 publications - about 20 percent of which appeared in premier journals. Covering topics ranging from Alzheimer's disease detection to ethanol-powered fuel cells, a sampling of these findings can be found in this Activity Report. We've also seen the resurfacing of some of our long-time users hard work. I was very proud to hear that two of the three recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry have ties to the NSLS. Venki Ramakrishnan, a former employee in Brookhaven's biology department and long-time user of the NSLS, now at Cambridge University, and Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University, also a long-time NSLS user, shared the prize with Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science for their work on the structure and function of the ribosome. In the late 1990s, Ramakrishnan and Steitz used protein crystallography at the NSLS to gather atomic-level images of two ribosome subunits: 30S (Ramakrishnan) and 50S (Steitz). Both laureates solved the high-resolution structures for these subunits based on this data. After struggling with a rough budget for several years, we received excellent funding, and then some, this year. In addition to NSLS operations funding, we received $3 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). We used that additional money for two exciting projects: construction of a full-field x-ray microscope and acquisition of several advanced x-ray detectors. The x-ray microscope will be able to image objects with a targeted spatial resolution of 30 nanometers. This capability will be particularly important for new initiatives in energy research and will prepare our users for the projected 1-nanometer resolution benchmark at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). The

Technology Development Ā» Smart Grid Ā» Microgrids Ā» Microgrid Activities Microgrid Activities Federal programs, institutions, and the private sector are increasing microgrid development and deployment. The number of successfully deployed microgrids will verify the benefits and decrease implementation risks further expanding the market for microgrids. Federal programs, institutions, and the private sector are increasing microgrid development and deployment. The number of successfully deployed

4. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND INFORMATION ACTIV87 is a compilation of fast neutron induced activation reaction cross-sections. The compilation covers energies from threshold to 20 MeV and is based on evaluated data taken from other evaluated data libraries and individual evaluations. The majority of these evaluations were performed by using available experimental data. The aforementioned available experimental data were used in the selection of needed parameters for theoretical computations and for normalizing the results of suchmoreĀ Ā» computations. Theoretical calculations were also used for interpolation and extrapolation of experimental cross-section data. All of the evaluated data curves were compared with experimental data that had been reported over the four year period preceding 1987. Only those cross-sections not in contradiction with experimental data that was current in 1987 were retained in the activation file, ACTIV87. In cases of several conflicting evaluations, that evaluation was chosen which best corresponded to the experimental data. A few evaluated curves were renormalized in accordance with the results of the latest precision measurements. 5. APPLICATION OF THE DATA 6. SOURCE AND SCOPE OF DATA The following libraries and individual files of evaluated neutron cross-section data were used for the selection of the activation cross-sections: the BOSPOR Library, the Activation File of the Evaluated Nuclear Data Library, the Evaluated Neutron Data File (ENDF/B-V) Activation File, the International Reactor Dosimetry File (IRDF-82), and individual evaluations carried out under various IAEA research contracts. The file of selected reactions contains 206 evaluated cross-section curves of the (n,2n), (n,p) and (n,a) reactions which lead to radioactive products and may be used in many practical applications of neutron activation analysis. Some competing activation reactions, usually with low cross-section values, are given for completeness.Ā«Ā less

EM International Highlights is a brief summary of on-going international projects within the Department of Energy`s Office of Environmental Management (EM). This document contains sections on: Global Issues, activities in Western Europe, activities in central and Eastern Europe, activities in Russia, activities in Asia and the Pacific Rim, activities in South America, activities in North America, and International Organizations.